MISSION  PROBLEMS 
SND  MISSION  METHODS 
IN  S  O  UTH  CHINS 

BY J.CAMPBELLGIBSON  MDD 


PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Purchased   by  the    Hamill   Missionary  Fund. 


BV  3415  .G5  1901 
Gibson,  J.  Campbell 
Mission  problems  &  mission 
methods  in  South  China 


'-'^^^^M 


Mission  Problems 


"The  Beloved  Persis'' 

Photo  by  J.  C.  G. 


Frontispiece 


MISSION    PROBLEMS 

AND    MISSION    METHODS 

IN    SOUTH    CHINA 

Xecturee  on  j£vmQcUet\c  ^beolog? 


BY 

J.  CAMPBELL  GIBSON 

M.A.,  D.D.,  GLASGOW 

ENGLISH     PRESBYTERIAN     MISSION,     SWATOW,     CHINA 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    CHICAGO    TORONTO 
Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature 


'*  It  has  for  a  long  time  seemed  to  me  that  missionary 
facts,  and  the  missionary  problem  generally,  are  susceptible 
of  more  special — may  I  say  more  scientific? — treatment 
than  they  generally  receive." 

Henry  Drummond. 


XTo  m^  Mite, 

REAL  AUTHOR  OF  ANY  GOOD  THIS  BOOK  CONTAINS  ; 

XTo  tbe  Students  ot  ifi\>e  Colleges, 

WHOSE   FRIENDSHIP  LIGHTENED   A  DREADED   BURDEN, 
AND   LEFT  IN   ITS  PLACE  HAPPY  MEMORIES  ; 

Hn&  to  m^  CbtlDren, 

WHO   MAY  WISH  TO   KNOW 

WHY  THEY  HAVE  SO  LONG  BEEN   PARTED 

FROM  THEIR   FATHER. 


PREFACE 

These  lectures  were  delivered  by  appointment  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in  connection  with  the 
Lectureship  on  Evangelistic  Theology  in  the  Free  Church  Colleges 
of  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  and  Aberdeen.  Portions  of  the  course 
were  also  given  in  the  College  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
England,  then  in  Queen  Square,  London,  now  removed  to 
Westminster  College,  Cambridge.  A  few  of  the  Lectures  were 
also  given  in  Manitoba  College,  Winnipeg,  one  of  the  colleges 
of  the  Canadian  Presbyterian  Church.  The  Lectureship  was  a 
two  years'  appointment,  but  duty  in  China  only  permitted  my 
holding  it  for  one  year.  Partly  in  the  hope  of  making  up  this 
lack  of  service  I  now  venture  to  print  these  Lectures. 

A  few  prefatory  words  are  needed  to  explain  the  obvious 
omissions  of  this  volume.  Designed  originally  as  a  course  of 
lectures  to  students  heavily  burdened  with  other  work,  it  was 
necessary  to  aim  at  unity  of  impression  rather  than  at  exhaustive 
treatment.  I  tried  therefore  in  the  earlier  lectures  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  task  that  confronts  the  missionary  in  China,  and 
thence  to  deduce  in  the  later  ones  the  natural  development  of  the 
methods  of  mission  work.  But  in  the  prescribed  limits  this  could 
only  be  done  in  a  very  imperfect  way.  Several  important  forms 
of  work  have  been  hardly  touched  on.  Especially  I  should  have 
wished  to  dwell  on  the  notable  work  of  the  Women's  Missionary 
Association  through  the  ladies  of  its  own  staff,  and  through  the 
wives  of  the  missionaries  ;  on  the  Medical  Mission  ;  and  on  the 
details  of  educational  work.  Without  these  features  the  picture, 
even  as  an  outline,  is  very  incomplete. 

Again,  I  have  throughout  spoken  only  of  the  work  of  the 
EngHsh  Presbyterian  Mission.  But  in  the  Swatow  district  we 
have  a  band  of  fellow-workers  in  the  Mission  of  the  American 
Baptist  Union.  Their  work  would  have  called  for  description 
had  I  attempted  to  give  a  full  account  of  mission  agencies  in  this 

5 


6  PREFACE 

field.  So,  too,  other  Missions  throughout  China  present  many 
features  of  interest,  and  we  continually  learn  from  each  other. 
The  evils  due  to  the  presence  of  "  rival  sects "  on  the  mission 
field,  if  they  exist,  have  not  fallen  largely  under  my  notice.  I 
believe  they  are  greatly  exaggerated  by  "candid"  critics  of 
missions.  On  the  field  we  seldom  think  of  each  other  as  rivals 
but  gladly  recognise  each  other  as  helpers.  Differences  of 
organisation  and  administration  yield  varieties  of  experience^ 
which  add  to  the  common  stock  of  knowledge,  widening  our 
views  and  improving  our  methods.  We  "  consider  one  another," 
not  in  jealousy,  but  to  provoke  ourselves  to  imitation  of  the  good 
we  see  in  the  work  of  others. 

I  have  not  cumbered  the  pages  of  this  book  by  giving  detailed 
references  to  authors  to  whom  I  am  indebted.  In  quoting  from 
the  Chinese  classics  I  have  followed  the  English  versions  of  Dr 
Legge,  though  I  have  sometimes  changed  a  word  or  phrase  where 
there  seemed  to  be  any  reason  for  doing  so. 

I  have  to  thank  my  colleagues,  Rev.  W.  Riddel,  M.D.,  for  kindly 
drawing  for  me  the  map,  on  a  novel  principle,  which  accompanies 
this  volume,  and  Rev.  T.  Barclay,  Formosa,  for  the  use  of  some 
of  his  photographs.  To  my  friend  Professor  J.  Denney,  D.D.,  I 
owe  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  extreme  kindness  in  arranging 
for  the  publication  of  this  volume,  and  in  undertaking  the  tedious 
labour  of  reading  the  proofs  and  seeing  the  book  through  the 
press. 

Recent  events  have  redoubled  the  urgency  of  the  demand  for 
more  men  for  mission  service.  But  it  cannot  be  too  earnestly 
urged  that  the  men  wanted  are  those  whom  the  Home  Churches 
can  least  spare  ;  men  of  thorough  education  and  deep-rooted 
enthusiasm,  with  faith  and  insight  to  work  unwearied  for  far 
results ;  who  in  tone,  training,  and  temper,  shall  fitly  represent 
and  transmit  to  others  the  finest  attainments  of  the  Christian 
spirit.  May  God  send  such  men !  If  this  book  should  help  to 
draw  their  hearts  towards  China,  its  purpose  will  be  fulfilled. 


J.  C.  G. 


SWATOW, 
\\th  February  1901. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE  ,A(jB 

I.      THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  ...  9 

IT.      CHINESE   LITERATURE  AND   PHILOSOPHY.        .  .  33 

III.      THE   RELIGIONS   OF  CHINA— PART   I.    CONFUCIANISM  69 

,        IV.      THE   RELIGIONS    OF    CHINA— PART    II.    TAOISM   AND 

BUDDHISM    ......  93 

V.      THE  SWATOW  MISSION  FIELD  :   PHYSICAL   FEATURES 

AND   INDUSTRIAL   LIFE  .  .  .  .  II9 

•    VI.      THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK  :   EVANGELISTIC 

PREACHING       .  .  .  .  .  .139 

VII.  THE  SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK  :  THE  PLANT- 
ING OF  THE  CHURCH  ....  169 

VIII.  THE  THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK  :  ORGANISA- 
TION OF  THE  CHURCH,  AND  CULTURE  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN   LIFE  .....  I93 

IX.  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CHURCH — PART  I. 
NUMERICAL  GROWTH  AND  THE  HEATHEN  BACK- 
GROUND ......  233 

X.      GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CHURCH— PART  IL 

CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER   IN  THE  CHINESE  CHURCH  25 1 

XI.      EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  287 

XII.      PERSONAL   PRIVILEGE  AND   DUTY         .  .  .  312 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


1.  "the  beloved  PERSIS."     Photo  by  J.  C.  G. .  Frontispiece 

2.  CHINESE    ART :     AN    ORPHEUS.       Probably    by    a 

Japanese  Photographer    ....    facing   45 

3.  BUDDHA  IN  JAPAN:   "DAIBUTSU"      . 

4.  A  WAYSIDE  SHRINE      .... 
5-   A  TIGER  TRAP.  .... 

6.  CHINESE   INDUSTRIES  :     SUGAR   CRUSHING   . 

7.  PILLARS  OF  THE  CHURCH  :   PIRATE  AND   LEPER 

8.  A  WAYSIDE   INN  .... 

9.  A  MID-DAY   HALT 

10.  THREE  MINISTERS    AND   FOUR   ELDERS  (LOU-JI  ON 

LEFT  AT  BACK)       .... 

11.  A  COUNTRY  CHAPEL.     Photo  by  Rev.  T.  Barclay 

12.  "PEACE  AND  PLENTY"  :   A  PREACHER  AND  SOME  OF 

HIS  CHILDREN.     Photo  by  Rcv.  T.  Barclay 

13.  TAN      KHAI-LIN,       FIRST      CONVERT      AND      FIRST 

ORDAINED   MINISTER,   WITH   HIS   FAMILY 

14.  BLIND   LADY,   MOTHER   OF  TAN   KHAI-LIN     . 

15.  GROUP  OF   BIBLE  WOMEN 

16.  GROUP  OF  CHRISTIANS  AT  lAM-TSAU 


GENEALOGICAL    TABLE    OF    CHINESE   VERSIONS  OF 
SCRIPTURE  .... 


DIAGRAM  OF  GROWTH  OF  NATIVE  CHURCH 
MAP  OF  SWATOW  MISSION   FIELD 


»> 

104 

») 

112 

» 

120 

)) 

128 

» 

147 

)J 

151 

J> 

166 

)> 

174 

1> 

182 

192 

222 
224 
256 
274 


208 
232 

End  of  Book 


MISSION   PROBLEMS  AND 
MISSION   METHODS   IN   SOUTH   CHINA 


LECTURE  I 

THE    PROVING   OF    THE    GOSPEL 

The  subject  of  these  lectures  is  "  Evangelistic  Theology," 
but  I  do  not  propose  to  treat  it  from  a  theological  point 
of  view.  I  shall  take  for  granted  the  great  theological 
foundations  on  which  we  rest  the  theory  of  Missions.  The 
subject  for  discussion  might  be  more  briefly  described  by 
one  word,  "  Evangelistics."  I  assume  that  you  recognise 
yourselves  to  be  not  only  favoured  possessors  of  the  Gospel, 
but  to  be  also  its  responsible  custodians — stewards  of  the 
manifold  grace  of  God.  Assuming  that  we  have  the  true 
Evangel  ourselves,  we  have  to  discuss  its  application  to 
men. 

How  are  men  to  be  reached  by  it  ?  Who  are  the  objects 
of  mission  work  ?  What  characteristics  and  features  do 
they  present,  and  how  far  do  these  determine  the  ways 
by  which  they  are  to  be  approached  ?  What  are  the 
methods  actually  in  use  on  the  mission  field,  and  to  what 
criticisms  do  they  lie  open  ?  How  may  they  be  improved, 
or  corrected,  or  more  amply  utilised  ?  What  are  the  results 
thus  far  of  what  has  been  done,  and  what  are  the  prospects 
for  the  future  ? 

For  yourselves  in  particular,  as  students  of  theology, 
there  will  always  run  parallel  with  these  discussions  the 
question,  What  is  the  bearing  of  these  things  on  personal 


10  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

life  and  duty?      But  I  shall  regard  it  as  your  business, 
rather  than  mine,  to  make  the  personal  application. 

I  propose  further  to  limit  the  subjects  discussed  by 
taking  China  as  a  typical  mission  field,  and  Chinese 
Missions,  or  still  more  definitely,  the  Mission  to  which 
I  belong,  as  a  sample  of  what  is  being  done. 

There  is  often  a  lurking  uneasiness  on  the  subject  of 
Missions  in  the  minds  of  Christian  people  at  home ;  perhaps 
an  impression  that  if  missionaries  could  only  be  got  to  speak 
with  complete  candour,  there  would  be  some  abatement  of 
enthusiasm,  or  even  a  confession  of  substantial  failure. 

Now,  I  hope  to  speak  to  you  with  perfect  candour  of 
difficulties,  drawbacks,  discouragements,  dangers  ;  but 
these  in  no  way  lessen  the  confidence  with  which  I  say 
once  for  all  at  the  outset  that  the  whole  result  of  my 
experience  in  mission  work  as  I  have  seen  it  is  thoroughly 
satisfactory.  Not  that  we  are  satisfied,  but  a  crucial  ex- 
periment has  been  made.  We  know  now  what  can  be  done 
and  can  predict  results.  What  has  been  already  accom- 
plished gives  ample  ground  for  wonder,  thankfulness,  and 
hope.  No  missionary  should  be  satisfied,  but  few  mis- 
sionaries need  be,  and  few  are,  disappointed.  The  justifi- 
cation of  this  assertion  will  appear  as  we  go  on.  My  aim 
is  not  to  offer  you  an  apologetic  of  missions,  but  to  note 
observations,  to  analyse  and  criticise  them,  so  as  to  put 
the  actual  state  of  things  in  one  mission  field  definitely 
before  you,  for  the  quickening  of  interest  and  zeal,  and 
the  confirmation  of  faith. 

Of  faith,  because  when  you  discuss  the  success  or 
failure  of  missions  far  profounder  interests  are  at  stake 
than  the  inquirers  generally  suppose.  ,  For  when  we  carry 
the  Gospel  to  heathen  men — using  the  term  provisionally 
— we  are  no  doubt  making  an  experiment  ;  but  what  we 
are  putting  to  the  proof  is  not  a  scheme  of  a  few 
enthusiasts,  nor  an  optional  off-shoot  of  Church  work. 
We  are  putting  to  the  proof  the  Gospel  itself.  ^   Are  men 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  ii 

in  the  world  in  truth  in  the  needy  case  in  which  the 
Gospel  asserts  them  to  be  ?  Is  the  Gospel  a  fitting  remedy 
which  in  practice  is  found  to  meet  their  need  ?  Are  men 
to-day,  in  fact,  so  held  under  the  power  of  sin  that  they 
need  a  Saviour?  Is  Christ  found,  in  practice,  to  be  an 
actual  Saviour,  able  to  set  them  free  ? 

In  theology  you  may  debate  such  subjects  as  matters 
of  argument,  relying  on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  but  in 
mission  work  no  theological  assumption  will  be  of  any 
avail.  You  go  to  make  actual  experiment  in  the  living 
world  of  men.  The  experiment  may,  in  particular  cases, 
be  vitiated  by  mistakes  of  method  or  manipulation, 
without  shutting  you  up  to  any  more  startling  result  than 
that  those  concerned  have  been  unwise  or  incompetent. 
But  now  that  so  many  missions  have  been  carried  on  for 
so  long,  in  so  many  ways,  by  so  many  men  of  all  varieties 
of  type,  if  the  broad  result  has  been  failure  the  inference 
must  be  a  far  more  vital  one.  In  physical  science  experi- 
ment is  the  putting  to  nature  of  regulated  crucial  ques- 
tions. Missions  are  an  experiment  in  which  the  question 
put  is  : '  "  Does  the  Gospel  work  ?  "  Or,  to  go  closer  to 
the  heart  of  the  matter,  the  question  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  this  :  "  Is  Christ  the  Saviour  of  men,  or  is  He 
not  ? "  Therefore,  when  men  say,  "  Do  you  believe  in 
missions  ?  "  I  reply,  "  Do  you  believe  in  Christ  ?  "  For 
assuredly,  if  broadly  and  on  the  whole  missions  are  a 
failure,  then  not  only  is  our  preaching  vain,  but  your  faith 
is  also  vain.  Be  assured  that  the  Christ  who  cannot  save 
a  Chinaman  in  longitude  1 1 7°  East,  is  a  Christ  who 
cannot  save  you  in  longitude  3°  West. 

The  question  about  missions  would  not  be  so  lightly 
put,  nor  the  answer  so  lightly  listened  to,  if  men  realised 
that  what  is  at  stake  is  not  a  mere  scheme  of  us  mis- 
sionaries, but  the  validity  of  their  own  hope  of  eternal  life. 
Yet  I  am  bound  to  say  that  the  questions  put  to  me  on 
returning  from  the  mission  field  by  professedly  Christian 


12  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

people,  often  shake  my  faith,  not  in  missions,  but  in  their 
Christian  profession.  What  kind  of  grasp  of  the  Gospel 
have  men  got,  who  doubt  whether  it  is  to-day,  under  any 
skies,  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  ? 

I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  scale  on  which  mission 
work  is  done.  I  am  not  certain  that  our  methods  are  in 
many  respects  the  best  possible.  I  am  far  from  being 
satisfied  with  the  results  yet  attained.  But  an  experi- 
ment has  been  made,  a  preliminary  experiment,  if  you 
will,  and  in  proportion  to  the  effort  made,  to  the  time 
spent,  to  the  workers  employed,  the  result  is  not  only 
adequate  but  surprising.  In  this  sense  I  say  that  the 
impression  resulting  from  what  I  have  seen  of  mission 
work  is  thoroughly  satisfactory.  '  It  presents  to  us  the 
strongest  confirmation  of  the  word  of  the  Gospel.  There 
is  no  more  convincing  demonstration  of  the  reality  of  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  than  the  things  that  may  be  seen 
to-day  on  the  mission  field. 

Church  history  can  do  much  to  confirm  Christian 
faith.  The  long  story  of  the  Church's  growth,  the  roll 
of  her  martyrs,  the  record  of  her  triumphs,  the  accumulated 
glories  of  her  literature  and  her  theology — these  things 
illustrate  and  confirm  her  faith  and  hope  ;  but  to  ap- 
preciate them  we  must  search  far  into  a  forgotten,  if  not 
a  dead  past,  and  by  an  effort  of  imagination  project 
ourselves  into  scenes  which  we  can  only  imperfectly 
realise. 

But  on  the  mission  field,  especially  perhaps  in  China, 
the  Church  and  the  world  of  eighteen  hundred  years  ago 
spring  again  into  life  and  reality.  The  Chinese  Dragon 
Flag  takes  the  place  of  the  Roman  Eagles.  Consuls,  pro- 
consuls, praetors,  deputies,  move  across  the  scene  in  the 
persons  of  Chinese  mandarins.  The  indifferent  Gallio, 
Demetrius,  the  crafty  maker  of  shrines,  and  Alexander, 
the  provoking  copper-smith,  are  our  next  door  neighbours. 
The  places  of  St  Paul  and  St  Peter  of  Timothy  and  Titus, 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  13 

are  poorly  filled  by  the  modern  missionary,  but  Lydia 
again  listens  to  the  new  Gospel,  and  plants  afresh  the 
Church  of  Christ.  The  Stoic  philosophers  encounter  us 
once  more  in  the  market-place,  muttering  the  question 
"  What  would  these  babblers  say  ? "  and  dismiss  us  with 
their  polite  but  chilling  formula,  "We  will  hear  thee  again 
of  this  matter."  Some  cleave  to  us,  and  though  Dionysius, 
the  Areopagite,  is  not  often  among  them,  the  woman 
named  Damaris  is  a  familiar  figure,  and  the  photograph 
of  the  beloved  Persis,  with  her  bound  feet,  her  quaint  old 
walking-staff,  and  her  Chinese  Bible,  hangs  on  my  study 
wall,  and  is  a  daily  stimulus  to  patient  and  faithful  work. 
Euodias  and  Syntyche  still  need  to  be  reconciled,  and 
exhorted  to  be  of  one  mind,  while  Priscilla  and  Aquila, 
Amplias  and  Stachys,  Apelles  the  approved,  and  Rufus 
the  chosen,  with  Clement  also,  and  others  whose  names 
are  in  the  Book  of  Life,  are  still  our  fellow-workers,  and 
fill  up  the  rolls  of  membership  of  our  native  church. 
Phygellus  and  Hermogenes  still  disappoint  us,  and 
Hymenseus  and  Alexander  have  sometimes  to  be  cut  off 
from  the  fellowship  of  the  Church.  Most  perplexing  of 
all  are  the  John  Marks  among  our  preachers  who  still 
make  trouble  in  Mission  Councils  by  the  unexplained  fits 
of  faint-heartedness  which  chequer  their  terms  of  useful 
service. 

The  Plea  of  Athenagoras  and  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus 
are  living  and  real  on  the  mission  field,  and  the  Book  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  for  us  not  so  much  a  record 
of  the  past  as  a  picture  of  the  present,  and  a  hand-book 
for  daily  use. 

I  have  often  wished  that  some  Professor  of  Church 
History,  at  home  in  the  early  Church,  and  familiar  with 
the  mission  field  of  to-day,  would  give  us  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  first  three  centuries  interpreted  by  the  modern 
mission. 

So   Church  history  lives  again   before  our  eyes.     We 


14  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

seem  to  be  living  1800  years  ago,  and  the  mission  field, 
so  far  from  being  the  death-scene  of  a  forlorn  hope,  is 
the  vantage  ground  of  the  final  apologetic  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

In  what  has  been  said  I  have  anticipated  some  points 
which  must  be  treated  in  detail  later  on.  I  have  done  so 
in  order  to  put  before  you  these  two  propositions  at  the 
outset : — 

(i)  That  in  dealing  with  missions  in  China  one's  task 
is  to  analyse  a  success  and  deduce  its  lessons,  not  to  ex- 
plain away  a  failure. 

(2)  That  the  vital  centre  of  all  mission  problems  in 
China  is  the  Native  Church,  and  that  to  deal  with  these 
we  must  fix  attention  on  its  planting  and  its  growth.   . 

The  proof  of  these  propositions  will  appear  as  we  go 
on.      Meantime  let  them  stand  as  guides  to  fix  our  point  ■ 
of  view. 

If  missions  be  regarded  as  an  experiment  in  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  Gospel,  we  shall  have  to  discuss  the  con- 
ditions of  the  experiment,  the  experiment  itself,  and  its 
results. 

It  is  thus  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  give  you  a 
sketch  of  China  and  Chinese  life  as  constituting  the  con- 
ditions of  our  experiment.  In  doing  so  I  must  ask  your 
patient  attention  to  a  subject  which  is  in  itself  so  wide 
and  complex  that  it  cannot  be  made  altogether  easy. 

Imagine  yourself  on  board  ship,  and  nearing  China. 
If  you  approach  its  central  parts  by  way  of  Shanghai, 
you  will  notice  that  many  hours  before  you  arrive  the 
deep  blue  of  the  open  sea  gives  place  to  a  lighter  and 
greener  shade,  and  that  in  turn  to  a  muddy  yellow. 
That  muddy  water  gives  the  clue  to  the  physical  structure 
of  the  country,  and  the  physical  features  have  conditioned 
the  industrial  and  social  life  of  the  people.  The  mud 
tells  of  far-off  mountains,  great  rivers,  and  wide  plains. 
Much  of  it  has  come  from  the  great  mountains  of  Western 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  15 

China,  1500  miles  from  the  sea.  It  has  been  carried 
down  by  the  rains  into  the  waters  of  the  Yang-tsze, 
which  runs  from  its  sources  in  Thibet  a  course  of  3000 
miles  to  the  ocean.  Only  the  finer  particles  carried  along 
by  it  reach  the  sea,  the  greater  part  being  deposited  along 
its  course  to  build  up  and  fertilise  with  virgin  soil  the 
broad  plains,  which  constitute  the  greater  part  of  the"* 
Empire,  and  support  the  bulk  of  its  population.  fChina 
is  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  great  mountain  barrier 
which  rises  to  the  high  table-lands  of  Thibet.  From 
these  run  out  towards  the  east  two  great  mountain  ranges, 
the  northern  and  the  southern.  These  ranges  divide  the 
Empire  into  three  great  river  basins — the  plain  of  the 
Yellow  River,  the  valley  of  the  Yang-tsze,  and  the  plains 
of  the  Southern  Provinces  of  Canton  and  Kwang-si, 
traversed  by  the  eastern  and  western  branches  of  the 
Pearl  River.  / 
/^  From  the  dawn  of  history  population  has  followed  the 
lines  of  the  great  river  systems.  Four  of  these  were  the 
cradles  of  civilisation  from  four  to  two  thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  The  great  Nile  Valley  was  the 
home  in  which  arose  and  flourished  the  high  culture  of 
the  Egyptian  Empire.  The  civilisation  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia  was  nourished  by  the  waters  and  the  plains  of 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  while  the  great  valley  of 
the  Indus  was  the  early  home  of  the  Aryan  race. 

Round  these  great  river  basins  and  the  social  and 
political  systems  which  grew  up  and  flourished  in  them, 
gathers  the  great  bulk  of  what  in  Europe  we  call  ancient 
history.  But  outside  of  these  is  the  story  of  a  great  race 
which  history  has  hitherto  almost  entirely  ignored.  The 
banks  of  the  Yellow  River  and  the  Yang-tsze  early  be- 
came the  home  of  a  vigorous  branch  of  some  primitive 
stock.  Their  origin  and  early  history  is  lost  in  antiquity, 
though  some  startling  suggestions  have  been  thrown  out 
to  supply  the  gap. 


1 6  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

We  comment  severely  on  the  Philistinism  with  which 
they  have  for  so  many  centuries  shut  themselves  out  from 
the  brotherhood  of  nations,  and  too  often  forget  that  we 
have  ourselves  been  constantly  guilty  of  the  same  Philis- 
tinism both  in  literature  and  in  religion.  I  have  seen  fine 
schemes  of  prophecy  in  which  men  undertook  to  explain 
the  purposes  of  God  in  relation  to  man  and  history,  while 
one-fourth  or  one-third  of  the  human  race  were  calmly 
left  out  of  the  account ;  and  books  which  complacently 
discuss  universal  history  and  ancient  literature,  while  the 
largest,  if  not  the  greatest  literature  of  all,  with  the  longest 
and  most  varied  history,  is  wholly  ignored. 

Whatever  the  genealogy  of  the  Chinese  people  may  be, 
we  find  in  their  early  history  as  recorded  by  themselves 
the  usual  phenomena,  but  on  a  bolder  and  grander  scale 
than  usual. 

We  have  a  fabulous  age,  which  covers  any  period  up  to 
two  or  three  million  years  before  Christ,  or,  as  the  Chinese 
say,  before  Confucius.  But  the  stories  of  this  period  are 
unanimously  rejected  by  all  intelligent  and  sober  Chinese 
writers. 

Then  follows  a  legendary  age  in  which  loom  up  great 
heroic  figures  of  whom  it  has  been  not  unjustly  said  that 
to  have  had,  or  even  to  have  invented,  such  progenitors 
and  heroes  is  a  token  of  the  greatness  of  the  race.  With 
the  latest  heroes  of  this  epoch,  Yao  and  Shun,  we  are 
already  approaching  firm  historic  ground. 

The  doings  and  utterances  of  these  two  hero  kings 
form  the  principal  subject  of  the  first  two  parts  of  the 
"  Shoo-King,"  that  is,  the  "  Book  of  Documents,"  of 
which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  afterwards  as  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  classical  books.  These  records 
were  evidently  written  long  after  the  period  to  which 
they  relate,  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they 
give  a  faithful  report  of  a  traditional  history  which  is 
genuine    in    its   main  features,  and   there  are  fragments 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  ly 

embodied  in  some  of  these  documents  which  carry  internal 
evidence  of  their  primitive  origin. 

The  history  becomes  somewhat  definite  and  reliable 
when  we  reach  the  time  of  Thang  the  Successful,  who  in 
1766  B.C.  overthrew  in  battle  the  last  ruler  of  the  preced- 
ing dynasty,  and  himself  assumed  the  sovereignty.  You 
may  therefore  place  the  beginning  of  authentic  Chinese 
history  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  B.C.,  with 
the  establishment  of  the  rule  of  Thang  the  Successful, 
who  assumed  for  his  house  the  style  of  the  Shang 
dynasty. 

But  in  the  latter  portions  of  the  Book  of  Documents, 
especially  in  the  section  containing  the  documents  of  the 
kingdom,  or  rather  dynasty,  of  Chow,  we  have  history 
embodied  in  contemporary  records.  The  dynasty  of 
Chow  was  founded  in  11^22  B.C.,  and  its  history  can  be 
learned  from  State  papers  and  public  documents  which 
were  put  on  record  while  the  things  to  which  they  refer 
were  still  fresh  in  men's  minds.  But  the  records  of  this 
period,  authentic  as  they  are,  are  still  fragmentary,  and 
leave  much  to  be  desired  both  in  continuity  and  complete- 
ness. We  must  pass  over  a  further  interval  of  350  years 
before  we  reach  the  point  at  which  clear  and  continuous 
history  begins.  We  are  then  about  the  middle  of  the 
period  covered  by  the  dynasty  of  Chow,  which  was  the 
reigning  house  for  about  870  years — from  1122B.C.  to 
255  B.C.  '^ 

When  continuous  history  begins  we  are  almost  in  sight 
of  the  great  classic  age  of  Chinese  literature,  the  times  of 
the  two  great  philosophers,  Confucius  and  Mencius. 
They  were  both  men  of  the  kingdom  of  Chow,  and  their 
lives,  with  an  interval  of  a  century  between  them,  covered 
a  period  beginning  in  551  B.C.,  and  ending  in  289  B.C. 
Thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Mencius  the  kingdom  of 
Chow  passed  into  its  decay. 

With  this  general  glance  at  the  course  of  the  early  ages 

B 


1 8     THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

of  Chinese  history,  let  us  return  to  the  period  about  two 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era,  when  the  ancestors 
of  the  Chinese  people  seem  to  have  entered  the  country 
from  the  north-west  along  the  banks  of  the  Yellow  River. 
We  have  many  striking  sketches  of  their  primitive  life  in 
two  of  the  earliest  of  the  Chinese  classics,  the  "  Book  of 
Documents,"  already  referred  to,  and  the  "  Book  of  Odes." 
The  period  covered  by  these  works  is  a  long  one,  but 
there  is  little  reason  to  suppose  that  there  was  any  rapid 
change  in  political  life  or  social  customs  in  those  early 
days,  and  much  of  the  life  depicted  both  in  the  "  Odes  " 
and  the  "  Documents "  must  represent  very  nearly  the 
state  of  things  two  thousand  years  before  Christ.  The 
China  of  those  days  included  only  a  limited  area  on  either 
bank  of  the  Yellow  River,  equivalent  to  less  than  four  of 
the  eighteen  or  nineteen  provinces  of  which  the  Empire  is 
now  composed.  At  a  much  later  date  than  that  of  which 
I  am  now  speaking,  in  the  best  days  of  the  Chow  dynasty, 
the  population  did  not  exceed  twelve  or  thirteen  millions. 
In  the  dawn  of  their  history  the  Chinese  seem  to  have  been 
a  pastoral  people  who  followed  in  their  migrations  the 
course  of  the  river,  driving  their  herds  and  flocks  before 
them.  Settlements  were  gradually  formed  in  the  line 
of  march  while  the  growing  population  moved  onwards 
towards  the  sea.  They  lived  in  those  days  largely  by 
hunting  and  fishing,  using  nets  for  both  purposes,  and 
also  bows  and  lines,  and  making  fish  ponds  for  fish  culti- 
vation. In  China,  as  elsewhere,  the  arts  of  hunting  and 
fishing  have  diminished  in  importance  as  agriculture  has 
gradually  supplanted  them,  but  both  are  in  common  use 
to  this  day,  and  along  the  coast-line  fishing  is  the  main 
industry  of  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  people. 

Very  early  in  the  "  Odes  "  we  find  the  nomadic  chiefs, 
who  wandered  about  seeking  pasturage  for  their  flocks 
and  herds,  beginning  to  settle  down  and  becoming  tillers 
of  the  soil.      Here  is  a  picture  of  these  early  migrations 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  19 

as  given  in  one  of  the  "  Odes,"  with  a  sketch  of  the 
process  which  must  have  been  repeated  many  times  all 
over  the  country  when  the  foundations  of  the  Chinese 
Empire  were  beginning  to  be  laid. 

"  The  ancient  Duke  Than-fu 
Came  in  the  morning,  galloping  his  horses 
Along  the  banks  of  the  Western  rivers, 
To  the  foot  of  Mount  Khi  ; 
And  there  he  and  the  Lady  Kiang 
Came,  and  together  looked  for  a  site. 

"  The  plain  of  Chow  looked  beautiful  and  rich 
With  its  violets  and  sow-thistles  sweet  as  cakes. 
There  he  began  by  consulting  his  followers 
There  he  divined  by  singeing  the  tortoise  shell. 
The  responses  were,  there  to  stay  and  then  ; 
And  there  they  proceeded  to  build  their  houses. 

"  He  called  his  master  of  works, 
He  called  his  minister  of  instruction, 
He  charged  them  with  the  building  of  the  houses. 

■  With  the  line  they  made  everything  straight ; 
They  bound  the  frame-boards  tight  to  hold  the  earth. 
Uprose  the  ancestral  temple  in  its  solemn  grandeur. 

"  Crowds  brought  the  earth  in  baskets. 
They  threw  it  with  shouts  into  the  frames, 
They  beat  it  with  resounding  blows  ; 
They  scraped  the  walls  till  they  rang  again. 
Five  thousand  cubits  of  them  rose  together 
The  roll  of  the  drum  did  not  overpower  the  sounds  of  building." 

We  have  here  a  glimpse  of  the  religion  of  these  early 
settlers.  They  began  with  divination,  and  amongst  their 
earliest  buildings  was  the  ancestral  temple.  These  primi- 
tive settlements  grew  into  petty  states  which  long  after, 
and  through  many  changes,  combined  to  form  the  Chinese 
Empire  of  to-day.  As  the  pastoral  nomads  who  formed 
them  abandoned  their  wandering  life  they  gradually  be- 
came cultivators  of  the  soil.      They  sowed,  as  now,  rice 


20  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

wheat,  barley,  buck-wheat  and  millet,  and  tilled  them 
with  hoe  and  plough  ;  and  when  the  harvest  was  gathered 
with  the  sickle,  the  poor  were  not  forgotten.  Even  while 
the  pastoral  and  nomadic  life  still  lingered,  they  had 
already  begun  to  acquire  the  arts  which  mark  a  higher 
stage  in  civilisation.  They  possessed  skill  in  working 
copper,  tin  and  iron,  and  in  making  tools  and  weapons  of 
war.  They  carved  ivory,  and  cut  and  polished  gems.  They 
made  instruments  of  music  in  considerable  variety,  guitars, 
flutes,  cymbals,  drums,  and  even  organs  in  which  metallic 
reeds  vibrated  in  the  orifices  of  tubes.  They  cultivated 
the  silkworm  and  understood  the  arts  of  weaving  and 
embroidery. 

Like  most  primeval  peoples  their  imaginations  were 
captivated  by  the  starry  sky  overhead,  and  the  "  Odes  " 
abound  in  astronomical  allusions.  The  arts  of  agriculture 
were  discovered,  according  to  their  traditions,  by  How  Tsi, 
the  heaven-taught  husbandman.  His  miraculous  birth 
and  the  dangers  through  which  he  passed  as  an  outcast 
infant,  form  the  subject  of  some  of  the  early  legends. 
He  was  protected  by  the  birds,  and  as  a  boy  learned  to 
amuse  himself  by  sowing  the  seeds  of  hemp  and  beans. 
As  he  watched  their  growth  and  learned  the  secrets  of 
their  culture  he  became  the  founder  of  agriculture,  and 
is  honoured  as  the  great  patron  of  all  who  till  the  soil. 

The  Chinese  divide  society  into  four  great  classes, 
which  they  arrange  in  order  of  dignity  in  this  way  :  first, 
the  scholar  ;  then  the  farmer  ;  third,  the  artizan  ;  and  last 
of  all,  the  merchant.  This  fundamental  conception  of 
the  framework  of  society  must  be  kept  clearly  in  view  by 
all  who  wish  to  understand  China.  A  lettered  class  to 
govern,  and  a  humble  body  of  agriculturalists  to  obey — 
that  is  the  Chinese  ideal  of  a  peaceful  and  settled  society. 
By  a  pleasant  fiction  the  lettered  man  is  supposed  by  his 
learning  to  be  fitted  to  take  the  command  by  land  or  sea, 
and  to  become  general   or  admiral  as  the  necessities  of 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  21 

disturbed  times  may  require.  The  class  of  scholars  is 
thus  understood  to  include  and  overshadow  the  military 
class,  and  though  degrees  are  given  both  to  civil 
and  to  military  students,  the  military  degrees,  rank  for 
rank,  are  always  much  less  esteemed  than  the  corres- 
ponding degrees  on  the  civil  side  of  the  public  service. 
The  second  place  in  social  standing  is  allotted  to  the 
cultivator  of  the  soil,  because  he  is  the  producer  of  the 
people's  food.  He  is  in  touch  with  the  benevolent  pro- 
ductive forces  of  nature,  and  by  his  humble  toil  is  the 
great  benefactor  of  his  people.  This  view  of  the  dignity 
of  agriculture  is  accentuated  by  a  great  annual  ceremony 
of  state,  in  which  the  Emperor  himself  ploughs  a  furrow 
with  his  own  hands  in  the  presence  of  his  Ministers. 
The  artificer  is  a  producer  in  a  minor  sense,  and  holds  the 
third  place  only,  while  the  merchant  is  relegated  to  the 
lowest  place  of  all.  This  view  of  society  is  probably  not 
so  much  a  result  of  political  theorising,  as  a  natural 
survival  of  the  conditions  of  life  which  are  described  in 
the  early  literature,  and  out  of  which  the  Empire  grew. 

Its  growth  was  slow  and  complex,  and  passed  through 
many  vicissitudes.  European  writers  usually  represent 
China  as  a  vast  inert  mass  of  humanity,  which  has  re- 
mained unchanged  for  thousands  of  years,  devoid  of  all 
living  impulse  from  within,  and  dead  to  all  impression 
from  without.  The  truth  is  that  the  imagined  stolidity 
of  China  is  largely  a  figment  devised  by  Western  ignor- 
ance. As  the  old  geographers  wrote  over  the  interior  of 
great  continents  the  word  "  Desert,"  only  because  they 
did  not  know  what  else  to  write,  so  have  historians  and 
even  philosophers  dealt  with  China.  Vast  spaces  of 
historic  time  have  been  bridged  over  with  the  convenient 
formula,  "  Immovable  stolidity,"  and  men  have  not 
paused  to  consider  whether  it  was  possible  that  a  people 
could  have  continued  to  exist  on  these  terms  in  a  world 
that  is  dynamic  in  all  its  parts. 


22  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

In  China,  as  elsewhere,  two  great  factors  have  always 
been  at  work  :  the  restless  passions  of  the  human  heart, 
and  the  unsleeping  providence  of  God.  Chinese  history 
is  as  rich  as  any  other  in  precious  material  for  the  student 
of  human  nature.  The  enormous  length  of  the  story,  the 
complexity  of  its  details,  and  the  difficulty  of  the  language 
in  which  it  is  recorded,  have  hitherto  deterred  the  European 
student.  A  beginning  has  been  made,  but  the  great  bulk 
of  the  historical  material  which  forms  a  main  department 
of  Chinese  literature  is  still  untouched.  It  will  be  im- 
possible to  trace  here  the  process  by  which  the  pastoral 
tribes  of  4000  years  ago  became  the  consolidated  Chinese 
Empire  of  to-day.  I  will  only  indicate  two  or  three  of 
the  principal  steps  in  the  transition. 

The  pastoral  tribes  who  settled  in  primitive  times  along 
the  banks  of  the  Yellow  River  gradually  formed  themselves 
into  a  series  of  small  states.  They  were  all  of  one  race, 
and,  being  surrounded  by  nomadic  tribes  of  other  stocks, 
they  banded  themselves  together  for  mutual  protection. 
By  degrees  a  feudal  system  was  evolved,  reaching  its  full 
development  during  the  Chow  dynasty,  which  acquired 
the  sovereignty  about  1 1 00  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  lasted  for  900  years.  During  this  period  the 
Chinese  territory  was  divided  into  a  number  of  princi- 
palities, each  of  which  was  allotted  to  a  feudal  prince. 
These  princes  exercised  an  independent  jurisdiction  within 
their  own  territories,  wielding  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  their  subjects,  and  regulating  the  distribution  of  their 
lands.  At  the  same  time  one  of  the  states  was  recognised 
as  the  central  or  leading  power.  Its  ruler,  besides  exer- 
cising authority  over  his  own  state,  wielded  a  suzerainty 
over  all  the  others.  From  them  he  drew  an  annual 
revenue,  and  could  call  on  them  for  military  service  when 
it  was  required.  He  was  assisted  in  his  imperial  duties 
by  a  council  of  high  officers  whose  authority  extended 
over  all  the  allied  states.     At  regular  intervals,  at  first  of 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  23 

five  years,  and  afterwards  of  twelve  years,  the  sovereign 
or  emperor  made  a  tour  of  inspection  through  all  the 
states  to  see  for  himself  that  the  government  was  properly 
carried  on.  He  and  his  ministers  regulated  all  matters 
of  common  interest,  defining  the  ceremonies  of  religious 
worship,  the  laws  of  war,  and  the  arrangements  for  trade. 
As  might  be  expected,  the  system  worked  well  when  the 
central  power  was  in  the  hands  of  a  strong  and  wise  ruler  ; 
but  it  left  great  room  for  rivalry  and  dissension  when  the 
central  power  was  weak. 

This  system  of  a  central  sovereignty  over  a  group  of 
tributary  states  gives  the  explanation  of  the  name  by 
which  the  Chinese  usually  call  their  country  to  this  day, 
— that  is,  "  The  Middle  Kingdom."  This  name  has  often 
been  a  ground  of  boastingflo  the  Chinese,  and  a  ground 
of  offence  to  Europeans,  but  both  parties  have  been  mis- 
taken in  their  interpretation  of  it.  It  has  been  supposed 
to  imply  that  China  is  the  centre  of  the  habitable  world, 
and  that  all  other  countries  form  a  fringe  of  barbarism 
round  its  remote  circumference.  Chinese  maps  are  con- 
structed on  this  theory.  Nearly  the  whole  area  is  occupied 
by  a  square  or  rectangular  space  inscribed  "  The  Middle 
Kingdom."  It  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  water  which 
is  called  "  The  Four  Seas,"  and  on  the  outer  margin  of 
these  seas  a  number  of  islands  are  indicated.  These  are 
called  "  The  Islands  of  the  Barbarians."  Not  unnaturally, 
the  despised  foreigner  feels  aggrieved  to  hear  that  China 
presumes  to  call  herself  "  The  Middle  Kingdom,"  to  the 
evident  disparagement  of  all  others. 

In  truth  both  parties  are  mistaken,  and  the  name  is  an 
interesting  survival  from  the  old  feudal  days.  Then 
"  The  Middle  Kingdom "  was  the  central  and  sovereign 
power  of  an  associated  group  or  confederation  of  states  ; 
and  when  the  group  was  afterwards  consolidated  into  a 
single  empire,  the  name  of  the  "  predominant  partner " 
was  naturally  enough  applied  to  the  whole. 


24  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

The  inherent  weakness  of  the  system  of  feudal  states, 
and  the  endless  rivalries  which  grew  out  of  it,  ultimately 
brought  this  old  political  arrangement  to  an  end  shortly 
before  the  close  of  the  Chow  dynasty  about  three  hundred 
years  before  the  Christian  era. 

Amidst  the  confusion  which  followed  there  arose  one  of 
those  strong  characters  who  leave  a  deep  and  permanent 
mark  in  history.  He  was  king  or  prince  of  the  kingdom 
of  Ts^in,  which  had  been  growing  in  power  as  that  of 
Chow  declined.  He  attacked  the  rival  kingdoms  one  by 
one,  and  having  overcome  all  the  more  powerful  ones  he 
combined  the  whole  under  one  government,  himself 
assuming  the  title  of  Emperor,  instead  of  that  of  King, 
which  had  hitherto  been  borne  even  by  the  ruler  of  the 
central  state.  He  divided  his  territory  into  thirty-six 
provinces,  and  appointed  three  great  officers  to  govern 
each  province.  To  mark  emphatically  the  passing  away 
of  the  old  system  he  ordered  that  all  existing  copies  of 
the  classical  books  should  be  burned ;  and  when  the  scholars 
of  the  Empire  failed  to  obey  this  order,  he  put  to  death 
four  hundred  and  sixty  of  them.  To  secure  his  territory 
against  the  barbarous  tribes  of  the  north  he  built  the 
well-known  Great  Wall. 

Thus  the  Chinese  Empire  was  founded  about  two 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  substantially  in 
the  form  which  it  retains  to  this  day.  The  dynasty  of  its 
founder  was  short-lived,  and  the  Empire  soon  passed  into 
other  hands.  Intervals  of  division  and  frequent  outbreaks 
of  local  or  dynastic  rivalries  have  chequered  the  course 
of  China's  history,  but  throughout  them  all  she  has  re- 
mained a  consolidated  Empire  with  a  continuous  history. 
Intrigue,  massacre,  war,  and  revolution  have  shaken  or 
changed  her  government  and  desolated  her  territory  times 
without  number,  but  they  have  not  interrupted  the  current 
of  her  national  life. 

The  last  great  revolution,  which  introduced  the  present 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  25 

political  system,  was  the  defeat  of  China  by  the  Tartars 
of  Manchuria  in  1644,  the  second  year  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly.  A  widespread  insurrection  had  over- 
thrown the  ruling  dynasty.  The  leader  of  the  insurrection 
seized  Peking,  and  was  on  the  point  of  seating  himself 
upon  the  Imperial  throne,  when  an  adherent  of  the  old 
regime  invited  the  ruling  House  of  the  neighbouring 
kingdom  of  Manchuria  to  intervene  against  the  usurper. 
The  Manchurian  Government,  which  had  long  had  designs 
against  China,  willingly  accepted  the  invitation.  They 
immediately  entered  China,  drove  the  usurper  from 
Peking,  and  after  a  long  and  severe  campaign  which 
raged  from  the  borders  of  Manchuria  to  beyond  the 
Burman  frontier,  firmly  established  themselves  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Empire.  Removing  their  capital  from  Man- 
churia to  Peking,  they  placed  a  Manchu  prince  upon  the 
throne,  and  so  established  the  Manchu  dynasty,' which 
has  now  held  rule  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  seat  of  government  remains  at  Peking,  where  it 
was  first  established  in  142  i  A.D.  The  Emperor  is  assisted 
in  affairs  of  State  by  a  Cabinet  or  Council  of  high  officers. 
The  public  service  is  divided  into  six  departments  under 
the  charge  of  the  six  Boards — Works,  War,  Punishments, 
Ceremonies,  Civil  Office,  and  Revenue. 

Many  of  the  anomalies  of  Chinese  policy  which  are  a 
constant  puzzle  to  the  western  mind,  are  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  Chinese  have,  with  great  political  sagacity, 
avoided  the  mistake  of  a  too  highly  centralised  govern- 
ment. The  Empire  is  divided  into  eighteen  provinces, 
each  of  which,  though  subject  to  the  Imperial  rule,  has  a 
complete  government  of  its  own.  In  five  cases  two  pro- 
vinces, and  in  one  case  three,  are  combined  under  the  rule 
of  a  Viceroy,  while  the  others  are  administered  by  Pro- 
vincial Governors.  Each  province  has,  besides,  its  Pro- 
vincial Treasurer,  Judge,  Salt  Commissioner  and  Grain 
Comptroller,  with   a   separate   military  organisation,   and 


26     THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

raises  and  administers  its  own  revenue,  subject  only  to 
the  payment  of  a  fixed  contribution  to  the  Imperial 
revenue.  Under  the  high  provincial  authorities  each  pro- 
vince is  divided  into  a  number  of  circuits,  which  are 
further  sub-divided  into  prefectures,  the  prefectures  into 
sub-prefectures,  and  these  again  into  smaller  local  divi- 
sions. Each  of  these  circuits,  prefectures,  sub-prefectures, 
and  divisions  has  its  local  civil  officer  of  corresponding 
rank.  No  distinction  is  made  between  civil  and  criminal 
courts,  and  litigants  or  accused  persons  can  appeal  from 
any  of  these  magistrates  to  the  next  higher,  and,  in  theory 
at  least,  there  is  an  ultimate  appeal  to  the  Emperor 
himself.  But  Peking  is  far  off,  expenses  are  heavy,  and 
for  the  bulk  of  the  people  this  appeal  is  of  little  avail. 

Besides  carrying  on  the  administration  of  justice,  the 
provincial  authorities,  with  the  assistance  of  military 
officers,  are  responsible  also  for  the  defence  of  their  own 
territory.  Thus  each  province  has  all  the  apparatus  of 
local  government,  both  civil  and  military.  Local  rebel- 
lions, and  even  foreign  wars  when  military  operations  are 
limited  in  their  range,  are  rather  looked  upon  as  being 
directed  against  the  provincial  government  concerned 
than  as  affecting  the  Empire.  Thus  many  shocks  of 
war  and  rebellion  which  under  a  more  highly  centralised 
system  might  have  been  fatal  to  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment, have  passed  off  as  merely  local  and  tem.porary  dis- 
turbances, without  any  disastrous  effect.  When  necessary, 
the  Imperial  dignity  can  be  salved  by  the  dismissal  of  an 
unsuccessful  Viceroy,  who  thus  becomes  the  scapegoat  of 
the  Empire,  and  saves  the  throne  from  loss  of  prestige, 
r  Under  this  system  of  combined  central  and  local 
government  the  Chinese  Empire  has  for  two  centuries 
and  a  half  attained  a  large  measure  of  solidity  and  per- 
manence. J  Apparently  immobile,  it  has  a  real  plasticity 
which  in  the  past  has  enabled  it  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
stress    of    changing    circumstance.      Western     observers 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  27 

who  speak  of  it  as  immovably  rigid,  doomed  to  fall  to 
pieces  as  soon  as  change  becomes  inevitable,  do  so  in 
ignorance  of  the  lesson  taught  by  the  whole  trend  of 
Chinese  history.  Change  is  never  welcome  for  its  own 
sake  to  the  Chinese  mind.  But,  when  change  becomes 
inevitable,  there  is  no  people  that  can  anticipate  it  with 
more  wary  caution,  or  assimilate  it  with  more  success  than 
the  Chinese. 

What  is  lacking  to  China  is  neither  mental  capacity 
nor  political  adaptability.  These  great  qualities  have 
been  displayed  on  the  largest  scale  and  in  the  most  varied 
development  throughout  her  long  history.  What  she 
lacks  is  the  solid  basis  of  moral  character.  Those  who 
have  seen  a  photograph,  taken  at  the  door  of  Hawarden, 
of  Mr  Gladstone  and  the  great  Chinese  Grand  Secretary, 
Li  Hung-chang,  can  read  in  it  the  answer  to  the  question 
why  China  with  all  her  greatness  is  yet  so  weak.  Look 
on  this  picture  and  on  that.  The  one  face  is  cut  deep  by 
the  strong  pure  lines  of  hard  thinking,  long  watchfulness, 
and  ceaseless  toil  for  the  good  of  others  ;  the  other  is 
stamped  by  the  shifty  cunning  of  a  selfish  soul,  gifted 
with  powers  which  might  have  served  his  country,  but 
have  always  been  devoted  first  and  chiefly  to  his 
own   gain. 

This  is  the  canker  that  turns  into  weakness  all  the 
apparent  strength  of  China.  It  is  partly  a  matter  of 
individual  character,  partly  of  a  vicious  system.  It  is  a 
remarkable  blot  on  the  administrative  system  which  I 
have  described  that  the  officials  of  various  ranks  are  not 
paid  a  fixed  salary.  In  theory,  the  public  examinations, 
open  to  all,  are  the  gate  of  official  life,  and  the  poorest 
man  who  by  merit  takes  his  degree  may  rise  to  the 
highest  posts  in  the  public  service.  In  fact,  every  office  is 
bought  by  its  holder,  who  pays  a  heavy  fee  to  his  imme- 
diate superior.  It  is  held  for  only  three  years,  and  the 
first  thought  of  the  official  is  usually  how  he  may  recoup 


28  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

himself  with  a  handsome  profit  within  his  term  of  office. 
Drawing  no  salary,  he  makes  up  his  revenue  partly  from 
legitimate  taxes  and  fees,  but  his  heaviest  gains  come 
from  illegitimate  sources  ;  excessive  exactions,  considera- 
tions for  condoning  offences  against  the  law,  the  accept- 
ance of  direct  and  indirect  bribes,  and  the  systematic  sale 
of  the  whole  machinery  of  justice.  The  boasted  provision 
of  our  Magna  Charta,  in  which  our  sovereigns  say,  "  To 
no  man  will  we  sell,  or  deny,  or  delay,  right  or  justice," 
seems  to  have  been  precisely  reversed  in  China.  Justice 
is  delayed,  denied,  and  sold  to  every  man  in  turn.  ■ 

This,  and  not  the  aggression  of  foreign  powers,  is  the 
secret  of  China's  weakness.  Her  people  are  alienated, 
and  have  no  interest  in  supporting  the  Government.  Her 
officers  are  always  ready  to  betray  any  public  interest  for 
private  gain. 

For  this  reason  the  hope  of  China  in  the  present  crisis 
of  her  history  lies  in  the  young  Christian  Church  which 
is  growing  up  within  her  borders.  If  it  can  root  itself 
securely  and  so  grow  in  healthy  life  as  to  produce  in 
good  measure  the  fruits  of  holy  living  and  character, 
China  may  yet  be  saved.  Her  present  position,  like 
many  of  her  institutions,  presents  a  curiously  close 
parallel  with  the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the 
early  Christian  centuries.  We  may  transfer  to  China 
with  great  fitness  the  following  words  of  Gibbon  :  "  A 
candid  inquiry  into  the  progress  and  establishment  of 
Christianity  may  be  considered  as  a  very  essential  part 
of  the  story  of  the  Roman  Empire.  While  that  great 
body  was  invaded  by  open  violence,  or  undermined 
by  slow  decay,  a  pure  and  humble  religion  gently  in- 
sinuated itself  into  the  minds  of  men,  grew  up  in  silence 
and  obscurity,  derived  new  vigour  from  opposition,  and 
finally  erected  the  triumphant  banner  of  the  Cross  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Capitol."  That  is  our  programme  for  China, 
with  one  great  difference.     We  do  not  wish  to  plant  the 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  29 

banner  of  the  Cross  on  any  ruins.  We  wish  to  plant  it 
rather  in  the  centre  of  China's  life,  that  round  it  may 
rally,  or  out  of  it  may  spring,  all  those  elements  of  purity 
and  goodness  which  shall  make  for  her  a  new  and  bright 
future,  a  future  greater  than  her  great  past,  in  which  she 
shall  no  longer  sit  apart  in  a  sullen  self-containedness, 
but  shall  take  her  part  in  the  comity  of  the  nations,  and 
bring  to  the  service  of  the  whole  human  race  those  great 
natural  powers  which  are  the  traditional  inheritance  of 
her  people,  purified,  elevated,  and  quickened  by  the 
vitalising  breath  of  the  religion  and  the  Spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Whether  this  ideal  can  be  realised  is  a  question  worth 
solving.  It  puts  the  Gospel  to  the  test  on  a  worthy 
scale.  For  out  there  the  great  issue  is  tried  with  all 
external  helps  removed.  The  Gospel  goes  to  China  with 
no  subsidiary  aids.  It  is  spoken  to  the  people  by  the 
stammering  lips  of  aliens.  Those  who  accept  it  do  so 
with  no  prospect  of  temporal  gain.  They  go  counter  to 
all  their  own  pre-conceptions,  and  to  all  the  prejudices 
of  their  people.  Try  as  we  may  to  become  all  things  to 
all  men,  we  can  but  little  accommodate  our  teaching  to 
their  thought.  To  a  people  to  whom  the  supernatural 
is  but  a  dim  terror,  we  preach  that  God  is  near  and  that 
God  is  love.  Where  the  struggle  for  life  is  sore  and 
keen,  we  preach  that  men  should  take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow.  Where  "  Every  man  for  his  own,"  is  the  rule 
of  life,  we  preach  that  a  man  should  love  his  neighbour 
as  himself.  Where  the  one  deep-seated  moral  conviction 
remaining  in  men's  minds  is  the  certainty  of  moral  re- 
tributions in  this  life,  we  preach  the  free  forgiveness  of 
sins.  Often  and  often  have  I  looked  into  the  faces  of 
a  crowd  of  non-Christian  Chinese  and  felt  keenly  how 
many  barriers  lay  between  their  minds  and  mine.  Reason- 
ing that  seems  to  me  conclusive  makes  no  appeal  to  them. 
Even  the  words  which  we  use  to  convey  religious  ideas 


30  THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

do  not  bear  to  their  minds  one-hundredth  part  of  the 
meaning  we  wish  to  put  into  them.  I  have  often  thought 
that  if  I  were  to  expend  all  my  energies  to  persuade  one 
Chinaman  to  change  the  cut  of  his  coat,  or  to  try  some 
new  experiment  in  agriculture,  I  should  certainly  plead 
in  vain.  And  yet  I  stand  up  to  beg  him  to  change  the 
habits  of  a  lifetime,  to  break  away  from  the  whole 
accumulated  outcome  of  heredity,  to  make  himself  a 
target  for  the  scorn  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives,  to 
break  off  from  the  consolidated  social  system  which  has 
shaped  his  being,  and  on  the  bare  word  of  an  unknown 
stranger  to  plunge  into  the  hazardous  experiment  of  a 
new  and  untried  life,  to  be  lived  on  a  moral  plane  still 
almost  inconceivable  to  him,  whose  sanctions  and  rewards 
are  higher  than  his  thoughts  as  heaven  is  higher  than 
the  earth.  While  I  despair  of  inducing  him  by  my 
reasonings  to  make  the  smallest  change  in  the  least  of 
his  habits,  1  ask  him,  not  with  a  light  heart,  but  with  a 
hopeful  one,  to  submit  his  whole  being  to  a  change  that 
is  for  him  the  making  of  his  whole  world  anew.  "  Credo 
quia  impossibile."  I  believe  it  can  be  done  because  I 
know  I  cannot  do  it,  and  the  smallest  success  is  proof  of 
the  working  of  divine  power.  The  missionary  must  either 
confess  himself  helpless,  or  he  must  to  the  last  fibre  of 
his  being  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  choose  to  believe, 
nay  I  am  shut  up  to  believe,  by  what  my  eyes  have  seen. 
I  do  not  mean  that  one  sees  the  results  of  preaching 
directly  on  the  spot.  In  China  at  least  one  seldom  does. 
But  by  the  power  of  God  the  results  come.  We  have 
seen  unclean  lives  made  pure,  the  broken-hearted  made 
glad,  the  false  and  crooked  made  upright  and  true,  the 
harsh  and  cruel  made  kindly  and  gentle.  I  have  seen 
old  men  and  women,  seventy,  eighty,  eighty-five  years  of 
age,  throwing  away  the  superstitions  of  a  lifetime,  the 
accumulated  merit  of  years  of  toilsome  and  expensive 
worship,  and  when   almost   on    the   brink   of  the   grave, 


THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL  31 

venturing  all  upon  a  new  preached  faith  and  a  new  found 
Saviour.  We  have  seen  the  abandoned  gambler  become 
a  faithful  and  zealous  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  We  have 
seen  the  poor  giving  out  of  their  poverty  help  to  others 
poorer  still.  We  see  many  Chinese  Christians  who  were 
once  narrow  and  avaricious,  giving  out  of  their  hard-earned 
means  a  month's  wages,  or  more,  yearly,  to  help  the 
Church's  work.  We  see  dull  and  uneducated  people 
drinking  in  new  ideas,  mysteriously  growing  in  their 
knowledge  of  Christian  truth,  and  learning  to  shape  their 
lives  by  its  teachings.  We  have  seen  proud,  passionate 
men,  whose  word  was  formerly  law  in  their  village,  submit 
to  injury,  loss  and  insult,  because  of  their  Christian  pro- 
fession, until  even  their  enemies  were  put  to  shame  by 
their  gentleness,  and  were  made  to  be  at  peace  with  them. 
And  the  men  and  women  and  children  who  are  passing 
through  these  experiences  are  gathering  in  others,  and 
building  up  one  by  one  a  Christian  community,  number- 
ing now  over  20,000  in  connection  with  our  own  Mission 
alone,  which  is  becoming  a  power  on  the  side  of  all  that 
is  good  in  the  non-Christian  communities  around  them. 

At  home,  there  might  be  some  hesitation  about  the 
interpretation  of  things  like  these.  In  a  Christian  country 
many  natural  virtues  simulate  the  appearance  of  Christian 
graces.  But  in  a  country  like  China  we  have  the  advan- 
tage of  seeing  what  the  Gospel  can  do  when  all  the 
external  conditions  are  unfavourable.  Heredity,  custom, 
education,  social  influence,  public  opinion,  and  popular 
ideals  are  all  solid  against  the  entrance  of  the  Gospel. 
If  it  roots  itself  and  grows  there,  then  the  miracle  is  un- 
deniable. In  the  exuberance  of  a  "  careless-ordered 
garden,"  the  presence  in  many  a  forgotten  corner  of  rare 
blossoms  is  no  great  wonder ;  but  when  a  blossom  of 
conspicuous  beauty  and  rare  fragrance  is  found  growing 
in  some  dry  and  desert  spot,  then  we  know  that  the 
power  of  loving   nurture  has   prevailed   over  the   killing 


32     THE  PROVING  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

force  of  adverse  conditions.  'So  when  you  see  truth  and 
purity,  love  and  honour,  generosity  and  tenderness,  self- 
denial  and  unworldly  faith,  springing  to  blossom  and 
setting  to  fruit  in  a  moral  soil  like  that  of  China,  with  the 
heavens  overhead  as  brass,  and  the  earth  as  iron  beneath, 
while  the  very  atmosphere  seems  heavy  and  foul  with 
heathenism  all  around — when  you  see  these  things,  you 
must  say,  "  The  finger  of  God  is  here."  We  recognise 
the  unmistakable  husbandry  of  God,  and  one  feels  that 
it  is  worth  while  to  be  a  missionary,  were  it  only  in  order 
to  see  for  one's  self  at  first  hand  the  authentic  working 
of  His  Spirit.  The  mission  field  has  its  great  rewards, 
and  perhaps  the  chief  of  them  is  the  strong  confirmation 
of  faith  which  its  scenes  aflford. 

There  is  no  reason  why  you  should  not  share  in  these 
rich  rewards.  By  love,  by  knowledge,  by  sympathy,  by 
prayer,  you  can  put  yourselves  in  touch  with  mission 
fields.  It  will  be  my  privilege  to  put  before  you  the 
Foreign  Mission  as  an  ideal  sphere  of  Christian  service, 
worthy  of  the  highest  ambitions  of  Christian  students. 
If  you  should  give  your  life-work  to  it,  you  may  find  the 
best  apologetic  and  the  final  vindication  of  the  Christian 
faith,  not  in  the  learning  which  you  gather  within  these 
walls,  but  in  living  epistles  of  Christ  gathered  for  your 
comfort  and  salvation  among  poor  men  and  simple 
women  and  little  children  on  far-off  mission  fields.  You 
may  find  yourselves  called  not  only  to  study  theology  here 
in  its  latest  ramifications,  but  to  mould  and  shape  from 
the  beginning  the  theology  of  great  churches  yet  to  be  ; 
instead  of  reading  the  Church  history  of  the  past  with  a 
sense  that  the  heroic  ages  are  gone  by,  you  may  find 
yourselves  summoned  to  make  the  happier  history  of 
coming  days  by  shaping  from  the  foundation  the  destinies 
of  new  churches,  into  which  great  races  are  to  be  gathered 
when  the  Kingdom  of  God  shall  come. 


LECTURE    II 

CHINESE    LITERATURE    AND    PHILOSOPHY 

Measured  either  by  duration  in  time,  or  by  extent  and 
variety  of  matter  and  style,  Chinese  Hterature  is  without 
a  rival.  In  time  it  ranges  over  a  period  of  over  3,600 
years  ;  in  regard  to  matter  you  find  in  it  history,  poetry, 
biography  and  travels,  essays,  plays.  State  papers,  novels, 
private  letters,  satires  ;  treatises  on  law  and  music,  on 
mathematics,  cookery,  philosophy,  and  ethics  ;  works  on 
medicine,  on  military  equipment  and  tactics,  on  bric-a- 
brac  and  religion  ;  chronological  tables  and  local  topo- 
graphies, encyclopedias  and  model  letter- writers,  expository 
commentaries  and  critical  discussions  on  ancient  texts  ; 
collections  of  ghost  stories  and  family  recipes.  Imperial 
dictionaries  and  vulgar  ballads  ;  and  finally,  that  nothing 
should  be  lacking,  an  index  expurgatorius  which  qualifies 
the  whole. 

Where  to  begin,  what  path  to  follow  through  the  maze, 
and  where  his  tedious  course  may  have  ending,  are  for- 
midable questions  for  the  student  who  attempts  to  survey 
the  literary  monuments  reared  by  the  choicest  minds  of 
one-fourth  of  the  human  family  in  the  ceaseless  toil  of 
thirty-six  centuries. 

The  Chinese  book  language  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
only  language  in  existence  which  possesses  a  living 
literature  and  yet  is  spoken  by  no  one.  Every  Chinese 
author  and  every  Chinese  reader  must  of  necessity  be 
more  or  less  master  of  two  languages.  The  language  of 
books  is  a  literary  vehicle  which  has  come  down  with 
little    change    from    remote    antiquity    as     the    common 

C  '' 


34  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

possession  of  the  whole  of  China.  But  it  is  not  spoken 
by  the  people,  nor  even  by  scholars,  anywhere,  and  it  is 
almost  certain  that  it  never  was  spoken.  Every  part  of 
the  country  has  its  own  vernacular,  which  is  the  spoken 
language  of  all  classes  of  society,  and  peasant  with 
peasant,  and  scholar  with  scholar  alike,  carries  on  all  his 
conversation  in  the  mother  tongue  which  is  indigenous  to 
his  native  region. 

The  book  language  is  the  only  living  specimen  of  the 
Hieroglyphic  or  Ideographic  systems  of  writing,  and  is 
by  far  the  most  ingenious,  elaborate,  and  complete  of 
them  all. 

In  China,  as  elsewhere,  the  spoken  language  must  have 
existed  before  the  written,  but  in  China  the  written 
language  did  not  undertake  to  record  the  language  as 
spoken.  At  first  it  probably  did  no  more  than  what  was 
done  by  the  picture  writing  of  the  American  Indians. 
Its  function  may  be  best  understood  by  comparison  with 
a  child's  picture-book.  The  pictures  which  accompany 
the  letterpress  supply  to  a  child's  mind  who  cannot  read 
not  only  illustrations  which  brighten  the  text,  but  a  clue 
or  guide  to  the  sequence  and  connection  of  the  parts  of 
the  story.  As  you  tell  him  the  story  he  checks  off  its 
stages  by  the  pictures.  Afterwards,  when  he  wishes  to 
retell  the  story,  being  unable  to  help  his  memory  from 
the  letterpress,  he  guides  himself  by  the  pictures,  and 
gives  the  story  in  the  order  and  with  the  incidents  figured 
in  them.  Now  suppose  the  pictures  to  be  increased  in 
number  but  reduced  to  the  most  elementary  forms,  and 
the  letterpress  abolished.  The  rudimentary  pictures 
would  then  themselves  form  a  record  which  could  be 
read  with  substantial  accuracy,  though  with  variations  of 
expression,  by  anyone  who  had  once  heard  the  story 
told  ;  but  they  could  not  be  read  by  anyone  to  whom  the 
story  was  wholly  unknown.  Something  like  this  must 
have   been    the    nature    of  the  picture   writing   used  by 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  35 

savage  races.  The  figure  of  a  few  footprints,  with  perhaps 
an  arrow  beside  them,  would  indicate  a  warlike  expedi- 
tion ;  the  curved  lines  of  flowing  water  with  the  outline 
of  a  canoe  might  indicate  crossing  a  river ;  the  outline  of 
a  few  tents  would  signify  an  encampment  ;  and  a  rude 
sketch  of  some  bodies  would  indicate  a  battle,  and  might 
show  its  result  and  the  number  of  the  slain.  The  signs 
vividly  recall  the  story,  but  they  give  only  its  principal 
points,  and  all  the  fiUing-up  must  be  done  by  the  reader, 
and  by  him  can  be  given  correctly  only  from  memory 
after  having  heard  the  story  told  :  but  they  suffice  to 
help  his  memory,  and  to  keep  him  from  omitting,  invert- 
ing, or  falsifying  the  incidents. 

Similar  to  this  was  the  origin  of  the  Chinese  written 
language.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  a  reproduction  of  the 
pictures  by  which  the  story  is  made  vivid,  rather  than 
of  the  words  in  which  it  is  fully  told.  It  consisted 
at  first  of  a  few  pictures  reduced  in  a  conventional  way  to 
their  barest  elements.  Such  words  as  man,  sun,  moon, 
mountain,  stream,  tree,  fish,  horse,  etc.,  were  written  in 
the  form  of  a  small  outline  sketch  of  the  object  intended. 
Upon  these  simple  forms  were  built  up  others  to  express 
more  abstract  or  more  complex  ideas  ;  as  the  sun  and 
moon  put  together  represent  brightness  ;  a  tree  with  the 
sun  seen  through  it  represents  the  East,  where  the  low  sun 
appears  shining  through  the  branches. 

The  written  language  was  at  first  very  imperfect, 
possessing  only  substantives,  and  perhaps  a  few  verbs  and 
adjectives.  Particles,  pronouns,  auxiliaries,  signs  of  tense, 
number  or  case,  were  all  lacking,  and  it  was  the  reader's 
business  to  supply  the  links,  indeed  to  complete  the  sense 
as  best  he  might.  By  degrees  subsidiary  words  began  to 
come  into  use,  and  the  number  of  signs  multiplied. 
Finally,  as  in  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphs,  the  idea  was 
reached  of  using  some  of  these  pictures  phonetically — 
that  is,  of  using   them  to  represent  other  words  of  like 


36  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

sound  without  regard  to  the  original  meaning  of  the 
picture,  a  mark  being  generally  added  to  indicate  this 
phonetic  use. 

These  principles  have  given  us  the  ample  stores  of  the 
Chinese  characters,  of  which  some  six  thousand  are  in 
common  use,  and  not  less  than  forty  thousand  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Imperial  dictionary. 

Every  word  has  a  separate  character,  many  single 
characters  requiring  from  fifteen  to  thirty  distinct  strokes 
of  the  pen  in  writing.  Many  of  them  contain  in  their 
forms  a  slight  clue  to  their  sound,  or  to  their  meaning, 
but  the  clue  is  slight  and  unreliable,  and  practically  each 
one  must  be  separately  learned  from  a  teacher  or  a 
dictionary,  and  must  be  retained  by  a  sheer  effort  of 
memory. 

A  language  so  difficult  as  this  remains  of  necessity  the 
peculiar  possession  of  a  privileged  class,  and  the  bulk  of 
the  people  can  neither  read  nor  write.  In  a  country 
which  imagines  itself  to  be  the  only  literary  country  upon 
earth,  and  which  contains  a  population  of  three  hundred 
and  fifty  millions,  there  are  not  thirteen  millions  of 
readers,  and  most  probably  not  more  than  half  that 
number. 

But  to  those  who  do  acquire  it  a  whole  world  of  life 
and  interest  is  thrown  open,  and  in  pursuing  the  study 
they  come  under  a  peculiar  fascination. 

The  characters  themselves  come  down  from  pre-historic 
times,  and  have  all  the  glamour  of  a  hoary  antiquity. 
The  principles  on  which  they  were  at  first  formed  and 
the  numerous  changes  through  which  they  have  passed, 
open  to  us  vistas  of  old-world  thought  and  life.  The 
book  language  which  has  been  built  up  by  means  of 
them  has  an  intensely  interesting  history,  as  we  trace 
it  from  the  rough  and  elliptical  fragments  of  its  most 
ancient  documents  onwards  to  the  picturesque  force  and 
easy  grace  of  later  antiquity,  and  of  mediaeval  and  modem 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  37 

writers.  As  a  literary  system,  the  book  language  is  a 
marvel  of  ingenuity,  of  subtle  versatility,  and  condensed 
force.  It  attains  a  surprising  variety  of  expression  by 
the  use  of  materials  apparently  stiff  and  intractable. 

As  I  have  said,  the  spoken  language  must  have  existed 
before  the  language  of  writing  was  invented.  In  the  early 
ages  it  was  of  course  by  far  the  fuller  and  freer  method  of 
expression.  The  line  of  development  followed  by  the 
written  language  left  the  spoken  tongue  almost  unaffected, 
and  the  two  have  pursued  their  growth  with  a  minimum 
of  mutual  interaction  and  influence.  Thus  has  arisen  in 
the  most  natural  way  the  anomaly  which  seems  to  us  in 
the  West  so  mysterious,  that  the  student  of  Chinese  finds 
himself  confronted  by  practically  two  languages,  the 
spoken  vernacular,  and  the  written  language  or  the 
language  of  books. 

The  vernacular  is  in  each  part  of  the  Empire  the  uni- 
versal language  of  all  classes  of  the  people,  rich  and 'poor, 
learned  and  unlearned.  I  have  heard  a  mandarin  of  high 
rank  speaking  in  his  native  district  the  very  same  dialect, 
even  to  its  broadest  local  inflections,  as  the  most  un- 
lettered peasant  in  the  district.  Thus  the  spoken 
language  in  different  parts  of"  the  Empire  not  only 
presents  dialectical  variations,  but  almost  constitutes 
distinct  languages,  some  of  them  spoken  by  one  or  two 
millions  of  people,  some  by  four,  or  six,  or  twelve 
millions,  while  the  so-called  mandarin  dialect  is  spoken 
over  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  Empire,  by  more  than 
two  hundred  millions  of  people.  We  avoid  calling  these 
vernaculars  languages,  out  of  regard  to  the  underlying 
unity  of  all  the  forms  of  Chinese,  but  they  differ  among 
themselves  quite  as  much  as  the  various  Latin  languages 
of  Europe. 

The  spoken  language  or  vernacular  is  Cantonese  in  the 
central  and  western  parts  of  the  province  of  Canton, 
and    the    Swatow    dialect    in    the    north-eastern.      It    is 


38  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

Hakka  in  parts  of  Canton,  Fuhkien,  and  Kiangsi.  It 
is  the  Amoy  dialect  in  Formosa  and  half  the  Fuhkien 
province,  and  the  Foochow  dialect  in  the  other  half 
It  is  Mandarin  in  Peking  and  the  north,  another  Mandarin 
in  Nanking  and  neighbouring  provinces,  and  it  is  still 
another  Mandarin  of  a  different  strain  in  the  western 
provinces.  It  is  the  Shanghai  dialect  in  Shanghai  ;  the 
Ningpo  in  Ningpo  and  the  neighbourhood ;  and  the 
Hainan  dialect  in  some  parts  of  the  island  of  Hainan. 
Each  of  these  is  a  true  vernacular,  a  dialect,  if  you  will, 
almost  a  language,  but  not  a  colloquial  and  not  a  patois. 
Within  each  of  these  vernaculars  there  are  colloquial  and 
vulgar  forms  to  be  avoided  in  refined  speech.  There  are 
also  minor  variations  which  may  fall  to  be  described  as 
patois,  but  throughout  each  great  section  of  the  Empire 
the  substantial  unity  of  the  mother  tongue  of  the  people 
constitutes  it  a  true  vernacular. 

It  is  thus  apparent  that  a  knowledge  of  the  local 
vernacular  of  his  district  is  a  fundamental  necessity  for 
every  student  of  Chinese.  Without  it  he  is  unable  to 
hold  any  intercourse  with  the  people,  and  when  he 
proceeds  to  study  the  written  language,  which  is  common 
to  the  whole  Empire,  the  local  vernacular  is  still  his 
principal  instrument  of  study,  being  the  only  vehicle  of 
communication  with  the  native  scholar  who  is  the  teacher, 
and  for  the  time  being,  his  ultimate  authority  on  all 
literary   questions. 

Fundamentally  important  as  they  are,  however,  these 
vernaculars  have  not  been  cultivated  as  literary  vehicles. 
None  of  the  great  works  of  Chinese  literature  are  written 
in  any  of  the  vernaculars,  although  in  many  parts  of  the 
country  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  local  literature, 
usually  of  a  low  class,  which  is  written  in  the  vernacular 
of  the  district.  This  consists  chiefly  of  songs,  plays, 
and  ballads,  corresponding  to  the  literature  of  the  "  Chap 
Books"    of   former    days    in   our   own   country.      These 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  39 

books  have  a  limited  circulation  amongst  the  common 
people,  but  are  despised  or  ignored  by  scholars.  To  the 
foreign  student,  however,  the  study  of  them  is  of  value 
for  extending  his  knowledge  of  the  vocabulary  and 
resources   of  the  vernacular  tongue. 

It  is  to  be  understood,  therefore,  that  in  speaking  of 
Chinese  literature  we  confine  our  attention  to  books 
written  in  the  book  language  proper,  or  what  is  some- 
times called,  though  inaccurately,  the  Classical  style. 
Books  written  in  this  language  are  not  understood  when 
read  aloud,  whether  to  educated  or  uneducated  persons. 
They  appeal  to  the  eye,  and  hardly  make  themselves 
intelligible  to  the  ear.  If  a  book  of  this  class  is  to  be 
read  aloud,  as  we  read  the  Scriptures  in  public  worship, 
it  is  necessary  for  the  reader  to  render  the  text,  as  he 
goes  along,  into  the  vernacular  spoken  by  his  audience. 
When  this  is  done  many  of  the  principal  words  used  in 
the  vernacular  version  are  identical  with  those  which 
stand  in  the  original  text,  but  many  of  the  words  must 
be  added,  and  there  must  often  be  an  inversion  of  the 
order  of  ideas  and  the  arrangement  of  the  text.  To  give 
a  good  oral  version  in  vernacular  from  a  printed  text 
requires  not  only  a  good  general  knowledge  of  the  syntax 
and  structure  of  the  book  language,  and  a  nice  dis- 
crimination of  the  effects  of  its  particles,  but  also  a  ready 
command  of  good  vernacular,  and  ability  to  give  not 
merely  a  bald  or  loose  paraphrase,  but  an  apt  and 
idiomatic  version,  which  must  be  neither  slip-shod  nor 
redundant,  in  sentences  not  too  long  to  hold  the  hearers' 
attention,  and  not  so  short  as  to  cut  the  thread  of  the 
meaning.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  skill  in  this 
exercise  is  not  common,  and  that  reading  aloud  is  little 
practised. 

The  importance  of  the  vernacular  has  usually  been 
greatly  underestimated  by  Western  writers,  while  the 
adaptation  of  the  book  language  for  use  in  all  parts  of 


40  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

the  Empire,  whatever  the  local  vernacular  may  be,  has 
led  to  an  exaggerated  idea  of  its  power,  and  of  the 
number  of  those  who  can  read  in  China.  In  the  older 
descriptions,  China  was  made  to  appear  a  land  of  un- 
paralleled marvels.  Language,  customs,  productions,  all 
were  described  in  exaggerated  language.  Some  vague 
idea  of  the  syllabic  poverty  of  the  language  was  made  the 
basis  for  statements  such  as  the  following,  made  sixty 
years  ago  by  a  naval  surgeon,  who  describes  himself  as 
"having  had  singular  opportunities  for  investigation." 
Whatever  his  opportunities  for  investigation  were,  he 
has  certainly  made  a  singular  use  of  them.  After  re- 
ferring to  the  book  language,  he  goes  on  to  say :  "  The 
oral  tongue  is  much  more  imperfect,  to  such  extent,  that 
the  Chinese  will  scarcely  answer  the  most  simple  question 
unless  it  is  expressed  in  writing.  .  .  .  This  poverty  of 
language  obliges  the  Chinese  to  appear  a  very  grave,  re- 
served people,  as  they  sit  together  frequently  for  a  length 
of  time  without  exchanging  a  word  ;  and  when  they  do 
speak,  the  sense  is  made  out  rather  by  observing  the 
countenance  and  action  of  the  limbs,  than  by  regulated 
sounds."  This  extraordinary  conception  of  a  spoken 
language  little  better  than  a  gibberish,  insufficient  for 
the  purposes  of  daily  intercourse,  and  eked  out  by  the 
universal  use  of  a  written  medium,  could  not,  of  course, 
be  accepted  by  missionaries  living  in  the  country,  but 
ideas  of  this  kind  have  created  in  many  minds  an  undue 
depreciation  of  the  spoken  languages,  so  much  so,  that 
the  appellation  of  "  Chinese  scholar "  is  denied  to  those 
who  only  speak  the  vernacular,  however  perfectly,  and  is 
confined  in  its  application  to  students  of  the  book  language, 
and  is  yielded  to  them  even  when  their  ability  to  speak 
and  understand  vernacular  Chinese  is  very  limited. 

There  has  also  been  much  exaggeration  as  to  the 
practical  use  of  the  written  language,  and  the  number 
of  persons  who  can  read  and  write.      The  state  of  educa- 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  41 

tion  varies  in  different  classes  of  society,  in  town  and 
country,  in  Northern,  Central,  and  Southern  China,  and 
it  is  extremely  difficult  to  make  a  general  estimate. 
Different  estimates  may  be  made  also  according  to  the 
view  taken  as  to  what  constitutes  anyone  a  reader. 
Many  know  the  forms  and  sounds  of  a  few  characters, 
without  being  able  to  understand  the  meaning  of  a 
sentence  in  the  simplest  book.  Tradesmen  often  learn 
a  few  characters  used  in  their  trade,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
read  and  keep  accounts,  and  yet  cannot  read  anything 
else.  The  true  test  is  ability  to  understand  a  book 
written  in  a  simple  style  upon  any  non-technical  subject. 
I  limit  the  test  to  non-technical  books,  because  any  work 
on  a  special  subject  would  contain  a  number  of  unusual 
characters,  each  of  which  would  be  a  stumbling-block 
even  to  a  fairly  good  reader.  Let  us  take  the  whole 
population  at  300,000,000.  Deducting  from  this  total 
25  per  cent,  for  children  under  ten  years  of  age  or  too 
young  to  read,  we  have  225,000,000  as  the  adult  popula- 
tion which  we  have  to  consider.  It  may  be  taken  as 
roughly  correct  that  half  of  this  number  are  men  and  half 
women.  The  women  as  a  rule  do  not  read.  There  are 
exceptions,  and  there  are  occasionally  women  distinguished 
for  scholarship,  but  all  cases  will  be  covered  if  we  estimate 
that  of  the  112,500,000  women  i  per  cent,  or  1,125,000 
in  all,  are  able  to  read.  Of  the  112,500,000  men  it  is  a 
liberal  estimate  to  say  that  10  per  cent,  or  11,250,000 
in  all,  may  be  reckoned  as  readers.  Estimating  in  this 
way  we  reach  a  total  number  of  readers  not  exceeding 
12,375,000.  Dr  Martin  of  Peking  estimates  the  number 
lower  still.  "  It  does  not,"  he  says,  "  according  to  my 
observation,  exceed  one  in  twenty  for  the  male  sex,  and 
one  in  ten  thousand  for  the  female."  This  would  reduce 
the  number  of  readers  to  less  than  6,000,000,  and  one 
cannot  say  that  it  is  too  low.  If  estimates  like  this  are 
anything  like  correct,  and  they  are  based  upon  very  ample 


42  CHINESE  LITERA  TURE 

evidence,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  of  the  Chinese  people, 
as  a  whole,  as  a  highly  educated  race.  Literature  is  the 
possession  of  the  few  rather  than  of  the  many,  but  by  the 
few  its  cultivation  has  been  carried  to  a  very  high  degree 
of  perfection. 

In  point  of  time  and  in  point  of  importance  the  first 
department  of  Chinese  literature  is  that  of  the  so-called 
"  Classics."  These  are  the  recognised  standard  of  right 
thinking  and  right  action,  and  are  the  recognised  field  of 
literary  acquirement  and  display  for  professional  scholars 
of  all  grades  throughout  the  Empire.  Other  books  they 
may,  or  may  not,  have  dipped  into — these  they  must  know 
by  heart. 

The  classical  books  have  at  different  times  been 
variously  enumerated,  but  now  they  are  recognised  as 
nine  in  number  ;  the  "  Wu  King,"  or  "  Five  Classics,"  and 
the  "  Sze  Shu,"  or  "  Four  Books." 

Let  us  look  first  at  the  "  Five  Classics."     These  are — 

1.  The  "  Shi  King,"  or  "  Book  of  Odes." 

2.  The  "  Shu  King,"  or  "  Book  of  Documents." 

3.  The  "  Li  Ki,"  or  "  Record  of  Ritual." 

4.  The  "  Yih  King,"  or  "  Book  of  Changes." 

5.  The  "  Ch'un  Ts'iu,"  or  "  Book  of  Annals." 

Of  these  only  the  last  is  the  work  of  Confucius.  The 
others  are  all  of  older  date,  though  some  of  them  passed 
through  his  hands  as  editor  or  collector,  and  owe  to  him 
their  present  form  and  arrangement. 

The  "  Yih  King  "  need  not  detain  us.  It  is  of  great 
antiquity,  but  of  doubtful  interpretation,  and  not  of  much 
general  interest.  It  is  devoted  to  the  exposition  of 
certain  diagrams  which  are  ascribed  to  one  of  the 
legendary  heroes  of  pre-historic  times.  These  diagrams 
by  their  combinations  of  full  and  broken  lines  are 
supposed  to  give  a  clue  to  the  complex  changes  and 
interactions   of  the   elementary   materials   and   forces   of 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  43 

the  universe.     Geomancy  and   superstition   find  here  an 
ample  field  for  unrestricted  speculation. 

The  first  three  of  these  five  classics  are  full  of  interest, 
both  from  their  literary  features  and  from  the  stores  of 
information  by  which  they  enable  us  to  picture  to  our- 
selves the  life  of  ancient  China  long  before  the  Christian 
era. 

It  is  a  convenient  help  to  memory  to  say  that,  speak- 
ing broadly,  the  "  Book  of  Odes  "  sets  before  us  the  social 
life  of  ancient  China  ;  the  "  Book  of  Documents  "  and  the 
"  Book  of  Annals  "  its  political  life  ;  and  the  "  Record  of 
Ritual  "  its  religious  life. 

The  "  Shi  King  "  or  "  Book  of  Odes  "  consists  of  three 
hundred  and  eleven  poems,  longer  and  shorter,  by  un- 
known authors.  Their  dates  can  be  approximately  fixed, 
and  range  over  eleven  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  earliest 
belonging  to  about  1750  B.C.,  and  the  latest  to  about 
600  B.C. 

The  greater  part  of  this  collection  belongs  to  the 
period  known  in  Chinese  history  as  that  of  the  Chow 
dynasty,  which  was  established  in  1 1 2  i  B.C.,  and  lasted 
till  after  the  times  of  Confucius.  During  this  period  the 
kingdom  of  Chow  was  the  central  power  of  a  group  of  minor 
states  and  tributary  territories.  Each  of  these  had  its  official 
historians  and  musicians,  whose  duty  it  was  to  celebrate 
duly  national  events.  Their  writings  were  collected  by 
the  central  kingdom  of  Chow  with  the  double  purpose  of 
forming  a  historical  record,  and  of  keeping  the  central 
government  informed  of  local  opinion  and  customs,  with 
a  view  to  legislation  for  the  common  weal.  To  this  wise 
policy  we  owe  this  collection  of  odes,  though  many  more 
have  perished  in  the  frequent  vicissitudes  of  Chinese 
history. 

From  the  "  Book  of  Odes  "  alone  a  tolerably  complete 
picture  could  be  drawn  of  the  life  and  manners  of  the 
ancient  Chinese.     The  poems  touch  both  on  private  life 


44  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

and  public  events.  The  scenery  and  images  are  drawn 
from  outdoor  views  of  starry  skies,  or  from  the  incidents 
of  country  life.  The  age  of  great  cities  had  not  yet 
come. 

For  example,  an  officer,  lamenting  his  hard  lot  and 
the  degeneracy  of  the  times  some  eight  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era,  contrasts  with  the  ceaseless  toil 
of  men  the  serene  indifference  of  the  quiet  stars — 

"  There  is  the  Milky  Way  in  heaven, 
Which  looks  down  on  us  in  light : 
Those  stars  in  a  triangle  are  the  Weaving  Ladies, 
Passing  daily  through  seven  stages  of  the  sky. 

"  They  pass  through  their  seven  stages, 
But  achieve  no  bright  work  for  us. 
Brilliant  shine  the  Draught  Oxen, 
But  they  do  not  draw  our  waggons. 

"In  the  east  there  is  Lucifer  ; 
In  the  west  there  is  Hesperus  ; 
Long  and  curved  is  the  Rabbit  Net, 
But  they  only  move  in  their  rounds. 

"  In  the  south  is  the  Sieve, 
But  it  is  of  no  use  to  sift. 
In  the  north  is  the  Ladle, 
But  it  lades  out  no  liquor. 

"  In  the  south  is  the  Sieve, 
Idly  shewing  its  mouth  ; 
In  the  north  is  the  Ladle, 
Raising  its  handle  to  the  west." 

Love  also  has  its  place  in  this  old  poetry,  both  in  its 
elementary  form  of  love  before  marriage  afraid  to 
declare  itself,  and  in  its  full  development  in  married 
life. 

Here  is  the  love  song  of  a  young  lady  who  is  not  yet 
prepared  to  defy  public  opinion  for  the  sake  of  her  lover 


Mission  Problems  Page  45 

Chinese  Art  :   An  Orpheus 

Probably  by  a  Japanese  Photographer 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  45 

Chung ;   I   fear  it  will  disappoint  you  as  showing  more 
prudence  than  passion — 

"  Mr  Chung,  now  will  you  please 

Not  come  jumping  o'er  our  hedge, 

Breaking  down  our  willow-trees  ; — 

Not  that  I  care  much  for  these, 

I  fear  my  parents  to  displease  ; 
Chung  is  dear  too,  in  a  way— 
But  what  would  my  parents  say  ? 

That's  what  I've  to  fear. 

"  Mr  Chung,  now  will  you  please, 

Not  come  climbing  o'er  our  wall  ; 

Breaking  down  our  mulberry  trees  ; — 

Not  that  I  care  much  for  these, 

I  fear  my  brothers  to  displease  ; 
Chung  is  dear  too,  in  a  way — 
But  what  would  my  brothers  say  ? 

That's  what  I've  to  fear." 

Here  is  love  acknowledged  and  boasted  of — 

"  In  the  carriage  I  ride, 
A  young  wife  at  my  side, 
With  a  face  like  the  hedge-rose  fair, 
And  we  ramble  at  will, 
And  mine  eyes  roam  still, 
To  the  gems  at  her  girdle  there. 

0  handsome  is  she,  the  eldest  Kiang, — 
Handsome  truly,  and  debonair. 

"  And  when  walking  I  go. 
She  is  with  me,  and  so 
Like  the  hedge-rose  blooms  her  face  ; 
And  in  rambling  around, 

1  can  hear  the  sound. 

Of  the  gems  that  her  girdle  grace. 

O  handsome  is  she,  the  eldest  Kiang, — 

Her  fame  shall  no  time  efface." 

Married  love  in  this  "  Book  of  Odes  "  generally  ex- 
presses itself  in  plaintive  regrets  for  husbands  who  are 
away  enduring  the  hardships  of  warlike  expeditions  ;  and 
occasionally,  to   do   them   justice,  in   the  regrets   of  the 


46  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

husbands  as  they  keep  the  night  watches  in  camp,  and 
think  of  their  wives  at  home.  Again  we  notice  that  the 
scenery  and  images  are  all  drawn  from  country,  not 
from  city  life. 

Historical  allusions  are  not  wanting  in  the  "  Odes,"  but 
for  history  we  must  turn  to  the  "  Shu  King,"  or  "  Book 
of  Documents." 

It  consists  of  fifty-eight  books  or  documents  belonging 
to  different  periods,  and  arranged  in  the  chronological 
order  of  the  dynasties  to  which  they  refer.  It  begins 
with  the  doings  of  the  legendary  Emperor  Yao,  whose 
reign  is  placed  by  the  current  chronology  at  some  two 
thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian 
era.  It  deals  successively  with  the  deeds  of  his  suc- 
cessors Shun  and  the  great  Yli,  and  on  through  two  pre- 
historic dynasties  till  it  brings  us  to  the  rise  of  the 
dynasty  of  Chow.  In  these  early  records  there  is  an 
entire  lack  of  fixed  dates,  and  it  is  only  in  the  later 
books  of  the  "  Shu  King,"  entitled  the  "  Books  of  Chow," 
that  we  find  ourselves  on  continuously  historical  ground 
with  a  definite  and  trustworthy  chronology. 

This  portion  of  the  work  begins  with  the  grand  starting- 
point  of  Chinese  history.  King  Show,  the  last  ruler  of 
the  Shang  dynasty,  was  a  tyrant  of  the  vilest  type.  He 
built  vast  palaces,  and  surrounded  them  with  pleasure 
grounds  in  which  were  gathered  great  collections  of  birds 
and  beasts.  A  lake  of  wine  surrounded  by  trees,  from 
the  boughs  of  which  cooked  meats  were  hung,  was  the 
scene  of  the  most  outrageous  orgies.  At  length  the 
Duke  of  Chow  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  people 
and  nobles  of  the  states,  crossed  the  Yellow  River  in 
force,  announced  in  the  "  Great  Speech,"  which  is  one 
of  the  most  striking  passages  in  the  "  Shoo  King,"  that 
the  iniquity  of  the  King  of  Shang  was  full,  and  sum- 
moned them  to  follow  him  to  execute  the  vengeance  of 
Heaven. 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  47 

"  God,"  he  said,  "  will  no  longer  indulge  him,  but  with 
a  curse  is  sending  on  him  this  ruin.  I,  who  am  but  a 
little  child,  presume  reverently  to  comply  with  the  will 
of  God,  to  make  an  end  of  his  disorderly  ways." 

With  the  overthrow  and  death  of  King  Show  and  the 
succession  to  the  throne  of  his  conqueror,  the  Prince  of 
Chow,  under  the  title  of  Wu  Wang,  the  real  history  of 
China  begins.  This  dynasty  of  Chow  lasted  for  over 
eight  hundred  and  sixty  years,  and  its  history  is  further 
illustrated  by  the  "  Ts'un-Ch'iu,"  or  "  Book  of  Annals," 
which  is  the  only  work  we  possess  from  the  pen  of 
Confucius  himself. 

We  are  at  present  concerned  only  with  the  literary 
aspects  of  these  books,  and  a  few  words  must  suffice. 

The  "  Shu  King "  is  of  interest  as  containing  un- 
doubtedly ancient  documents,  affording  material  for  the 
study  of  the  language  in  its  earliest  forms.  The  author- 
ship of  its  various  books  is  unknown,  and  the  genuineness 
of  some  is  more  than  doubtful.  They  suffered,  as  did 
also  the  "  Book  of  Odes,"  in  repeated  disasters  and 
commotions  which  disturbed  the  history  of  the  Empire. 

In  the  year  213  B.C.  the  Emperor  of  that  day,  founder 
of  the  dynasty  which  succeeded  that  of  Chow,  conceived 
the  idea  of  abolishing  all  historic  records  previous  to  his 
own  reign.  He  ordered  the  burning  of  all  copies  of  the 
"  Odes "  and  the  "  Documents,"  and  followed  up  this 
decree  by  burying  alive  460  scholars  who  had  failed  to 
render  obedience.  For  eleven  years  the  literature  of 
ancient  China  was  in  abeyance  ;  but  the  dynasty  founded 
on  these  savage  measures  was  happily  short-lived,  and 
that  of  Han  which  took  its  place,  immediately  took  steps 
for  the  recovery  of  the  lost  treasures.  Copies  of  some 
were  found  hidden,  built  up  in  the  walls  of  houses,  some 
were  restored  from  the  lips  of  those  who  could  recite 
them,  and  the  result  is  the  text  which  we  now  possess  of 
these  ancient  works. 


48  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

This  catastrophe  and  other  vicissitudes  of  a  like  kind 
have  given  rise  to  a  vast  literature  of  textual  criticism,  in 
which  are  displayed  enormous  labour,  acute  analysis,  and 
skilful  exposition.  The  result  of  all  these  investigations 
seems  to  justify  our  looking  upon  these  ancient  texts  as 
substantially  genuine. 

When  we  come  to  the  "  Book  of  Annals,"  written  by 
Confucius  himself,  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  we  shall 
find  in  it  the  culmination  of  Chinese  literature.  It  is  the 
only  work  of  which  he  was  the  author.  It  is  of  small 
bulk,  and  deals  with  matters  of  state  with  which  he  was 
familiar.  Confucius  himself  speaks  of  it  as  the  book  by 
which  posterity  will  know  him. 

But  it  is  the  least  interesting  of  all  the  classical  books. 
As  a  record  of  facts  it  is  unimportant,  and  it  is  almost  as 
devoid  of  literary  quality  as  Bradshaw's  Railway  Guide. 
It  consists  of  brief  disjointed  notes  of  events  jotted  down 
under  their  dates,  without  the  least  attempt  to  weave 
them  into  a  continuous  narrative,  to  estimate  their 
importance,  or  to  trace  their  development. 

I  have  not  yet  touched  on  the  religion  of  the  ancient 
Chinese.  It  is  principally  represented,  as  I  have  said,  by 
the  "  Li  Ki "  or  "  Record  of  Ritual,"  though  some  of  its 
most  fundamental  ideas  crop  up  frequently  both  in  the 
"Odes"  and  the '"  Documents."  But  the  "Record  of 
Ritual"  is  of  later  date,  belonging  to  the  period  sub- 
sequent to  Confucius,  and  bears  many  traces  of  his 
influence.  As  its  name  indicates,  it  treats  religion  from 
the  point  of  view  of  ceremonial.  At  the  same  time 
ceremonial  is  invariably  judged  on  the  ground  of  fitness 
to  express  natural  and  appropriate  feeling.  It  is  traced 
in  the  minutest  detail  through  all  parts  of  human  life. 
It  often  reminds  one  of  the  utterance  of  a  contemporary 
statesman  about  Confucius  himself  "  This  Mr  K'ung," 
he  said,  "has  a  thousand  peculiarities.  It  would  take 
generations  to  exhaust  all  that  he  knows  about  the  cere- 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  49 

monies  of  going  up  and  going  down."  So  in  the  "  Record 
of  Ritual,"  religion,  if  one  may  call  it  so,  appears  not  as 
a  spiritual  force,  not  as  a  faith  or  creed,  but  as  a  minute 
and  sometimes  tedious  directory  of  public  and  private 
worship  and  conduct.  From  the  way  in  which  children 
should  get  out  of  bed  in  the  morning,  and,  after  washing 
and  dressing,  should  wait  upon  their  parents  with  enquiries 
after  their  health,  and  other  polite  attentions,  life  is  taken, 
stage  by  stage,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  The  cere- 
mony of  "  capping,"  in  which  a  boy  enters  at  the  age  of 
twenty  on  the  dignity  of  manhood  ;  the  rites  of  marriage 
and  their  preliminaries ;  the  paying  of  visits  and  the 
conduct  of  banquets  ;  official  etiquette  and  the  relative 
duties  of  sovereigns  and  their  ministers ;  are  all  duly  laid 
down  in  this  "  Whole  duty  of  man."  But  the  subject 
that  is  treated  at  greatest  length  is  the  round  of  duties 
connected  with  death  and  burial,  and  the  sacrifices  to  the 
spirits  of  the  departed,  in  which  we  find  the  deepest 
expression  of  the  practical  religious  ideas  of  the  Chinese 
mind.  The  points  I  have  mentioned  will  perhaps  suggest 
to  you  that  this  book  is  rather  one  of  etiquette  than  of 
religion.  So  indeed  it  would  be,  were  it  not  that  the 
etiquette  of  social  life  in  all  its  aspects  is  made  to  circle 
round  the  controlling  conceptions  of  ancestral  worship. 

Love  and  reverence  for  the  departed  are  pictured  as 
lying  at  the  root  of  all  the  observances  of  this  worship. 
Amidst  the  wearisome  details  of  fit  times  and  correct 
places,  seemly  caps  and  proper  girdles,  suitable  offerings 
and  appropriate  attitudes,  it  is  refreshing  to  meet  occasion- 
ally a  simple  utterance  of  natural  feeling  ;  as  when  it  is 
said  of  the  typical  filial  son — "  When  his  father  died  he 
could  not  bear  to  read  his  books  ;  the  touch  of  his  hand 
seemed  to  be  still  on  them.  When  his  mother  died  he 
could  not  bear  to  drink  from  the  cups  and  bowls  that 
she  had  used  ;  the  breath  of  her  mouth  seemed  to  be  still 
on   them."      A   Chinese  heart  will    sometimes  vibrate   to 

D 


so  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand  as  truly  as  our  own,  and 
one  would  fain  fasten  on  such  utterances  as  giving  the 
key  to  ancestral  worship.  But  Confucius  is  quoted  in 
the  "  Record  of  Ritual  "  in  one  of  his  hesitating  utterances, 
which  expresses  only  too  faithfully  the  average  Chinese 
feeling  towards  the  dead.  It  is  said  of  him  elsewhere, 
"  He  sacrificed  to  the  dead  as  if  they  were  present,"  but 
his  words  as  quoted  in  the  "  Record  of  Ritual,"  show  his 
real  feeling.      He  is  there  reported  as  saying : — 

"  In  dealing  with  the  dead,  if  we  treat  them  as  if  they 
were  entirely  dead,  that  would  show  a  want  of  affection, 
and  should  not  be  done  ;  or,  if  we  treat  them  as  if  they 
were  entirely  alive,  that  would  show  a  want  of  wisdom, 
and  should  not  be  done.  On  this  account  the  vessels 
of  bamboo  are  not  fit  for  actual  use  ;  those  of  earthenware 
cannot  be  used  to  wash  in  ;  those  of  wood  are  incapable 
of  being  carved  ;  the  lutes  are  strung,  but  not  evenly  ; 
the  pandean  pipes  are  complete,  but  not  in  tune  ;  the 
bells  and  musical  stones  are  there,  but  they  have  no 
stands.  They  are  called  vessels  to  the  eye  of  fancy  ; 
that  is,  the  dead  are  thus  treated  as  if  they  were  spiritual 
intelligences." 

On  this  curious  borderland  between  affirmation  and 
denial  with  regard  to  spiritual  beings  Confucius  took 
his  stand,  and  the  "  Record  of  Ritual "  is  dominated  by 
the  same  view.  It  has  thus  prepared  the  way  for  the 
ancestral  worship  of  the  present  day,  which  is,  I  fear,  in 
most  cases  substantially  an  effort  to  appease  by  offerings 
the  spirits  of  the  dead,  regarded  as  ghosts  of  uncertain 
temper,  very  powerful,  and  very  quick  to  resent  any 
neglect  on  the  part  of  the  living. 

Regarded  as  a  religious  treatise  this  "  Record  of  Ritual  " 
presents  one  most  remarkable  feature.  In  it  the  grandest 
religious  conception  of  the  older  books,  the  *'  Book  of 
Odes "  and  the  "  Book  of  Documents,"  the  conception, 
that  is,  of  the  being  and  greatness  of  God,  is  conspicuously 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  51 

lacking.  In  that  contrast  you  have  the  crucial  test  of 
the  influence  of  Confucius,  the  greatest  of  Chinamen — the 
one  sagely  teacher,  as  they  style  him,  of  ten  thousand 
ages. 

It  curiously  illustrates  Western  ignorance  of  Chinese 
literature  that  you  find  a  learned  writer  mis-stating  the 
whole  question  of  Chinese  religion  in  the  words,  "  With- 
out Confucius,  China  had  been  without  a  native  religion." 

If  so  large  a  subject  could  be  fairly  dealt  with  by  way 
of  epigram,  it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  say,  ''  But 
for  Confucius,  China  had  been  a  religious  country."  Let 
me  briefly  explain. 

In  the  earliest  parts  of  the  "  Book  of  Documents " 
and  the  "  Book  of  Odes "  frequent  mention  is  made  of 
"  Shang-ti,"  as  the  one  great  Spirit,  supreme  over  men 
and  things,  Creator,  Preserver,  and  Lord.  The  ancient 
kings  are  described  as  worshipping  Him  with  sacrifices 
and  prayers.  He  is  described  as  mighty  in  power, 
employing  men  as  His  servants,  setting  up  and  removing 
kings  at  His  sovereign  pleasure,  dealing  with  men  in 
majesty  in  ways  past  finding  out,  but  always  righteous, 
benevolent,  and  merciful. 

When  we  read  the  language  used  of  Shang-ti  through- 
out these  books  we  feel  that,  whatever  be  the  source  of 
these  ideas,  the  Great  Being  who  is  so  described  is  none 
other  than  the  Living  and  True  God.  Nothing  false  or 
low  or  unworthy  is  attributed  in  these  books  to  Him. 
No  image  has  ever  been  made  to  represent  His  form. 

It  is  this  grand  conception  of  God  that  is  lacking  in 
the  "  Record  of  Ritual,"  and  this  lack  must  be  traced 
mainly,  I  fear,  to  the  influence  of  Confucius.  In  the 
latter  portions  of  the  "  Book  of  Documents  "  we  see  that 
the  kings  of  Chow  used  instead  of  the  title  Shang-ti,  the 
vastly  inferior  expression  "  Heaven  and  Earth,"  as  de- 
scriptive of  the  Supreme  Being.  Confucius,  with  his 
shrinking  from  definite   language   in   regard   to   spiritual 


52  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

beings,  confirmed  this  usage,  and  habitually  spoke  of 
"  Heaven  "  rather  than  of  God.  It  is  true  that  he  said 
on  one  occasion  that  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven  and  Earth 
were  the  means  by  which  men  worshipped  God. 

But  Confucius  did  much  to  undermine  the  realisation 
of  the  personality  of  God  in  the  minds  of  his  country- 
men. With  a  keen  interest  in  practical  ethics,  especially 
as  applied  to  statecraft,  he  had  no  anxiety  to  give  his 
ethics  any  theological  basis.  The  result  has  been  to 
leave  his  countrymen  without  any  spiritual  atmosphere, 
and  so  to  vitiate  in  practice  his  ethical  theories  that  it 
has  been  said  without  injustice,  "  The  best  answer  to 
Confucianism  is  China." 

Confucius  holds  a  position  of  extraordinary  authority 
both  in  the  popular  mind  and  in  the  view  of  native 
scholars.  There  are  many  profound  and  striking  thoughts 
in  his  sayings  as  recorded  by  his  followers.  He  was  an 
earnest  student  of  antiquity,  and  in  its  greatest  men  he 
recognised  kindred  souls.  We  sometimes  wonder  at  the 
likeness  to  Confucius,  in  thought  and  mental  attitude,  of 
the  generations  of  Chinese  who  have  been  reared  in  his 
teaching  ;  but  we  seek  in  vain  in  his  recorded  life  and 
words  for  the  secret  of  his  power  to  mould  them.  The 
truth  is  they  are  like  him,  not  so  much  because  he 
moulded  them,  as  because  he,  like  them,  was  moulded 
by  the  generations  that  went  before  him.  He  is  for  all 
time  the  typical  Chinaman,  but  his  greatness  lies  in  his 
displaying  the  type  on  a  grand  scale,  not  in  his  creating 
it. 

If  my  view  of  him  seems  grudging  and  ungenerous,  I 
will  support  it  by  the  verdict  of  Dr  Legge,  who  was  a 
laborious  student  of  the  ancient  literature  of  China  for 
fifty  years.  He  sums  up  his  estimate  of  Confucius  in 
these  words  :  "  After  long  study  of  his  character  and 
opinions  I  am  unable  to  regard  him  as  a  great  man. 
He  was  not  before  his   age,   though  he  was  above  the 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  53 

mass  of  the  officers  and  scholars  of  his  time.  He  threw 
no  new  light  on  any  of  the  questions  which  have  a  world- 
wide interest.  He  gave  no  impulse  to  religion.  He  had 
no  sympathy  with  progress.  His  influence  has  been 
wonderful,  but  it  will  henceforth  wane." 

I  have  spoken  of  Confucius  in  his  relation  to  the  two 
latest  of  the  five  classics.  His  sayings  recorded  by  his 
disciples  form  the  matter  of  the  first  of  what  are  called 
the  "  Four  Books."  There  are  two  smaller  Confucian 
books,  "  The  Great  Learning,"  and  "  The  Doctrine  of 
the  Mean,"  and  these  with  the  teachings  of  Mencius 
complete  this  set  of  "  Four  Books." 

Confucius  and  Mencius  were  separated  by  the  lapse 
of  little  over  a  century,  but  they  seem  to  belong  to 
different  worlds.  Confucius  was  the  last  of  the  ancients  ; 
Mencius  was  the  first  of  the  moderns.  Mencius  is  styled 
by  the  Chinese  "  the  secondary  sage,"  but  I  confess  he  is 
to  me  more  interesting,  though  perhaps  not  greater,  than 
Confucius. 

In  the  literary  style  of  Mencius  there  is  a  rounded 
completeness,  a  grace  and  elegance,  which  are  wanting 
in  the  abrupt,  elliptical  structure  of  the  earlier  writers. 
He  has  a  lively  imagination,  a  kindling  eloquence,  and  a 
rare  skill  in  illustration.  His  writings  are  studded  with 
happy  phrases,  weighty  in  meaning,  brief,  elegant  and 
clear  cut.  He  commends  himself  to  the  modern  spirit 
by  the  healthy  independence  of  his  views  on  the  relations 
between  sovereigns  and  their  people,  and  the  manly  bold- 
ness with  which  he  spoke  out  his  mind  to  the  unwilling 
kings  who  employed  him  as  their  counsellor,  "  The 
people,"  he  said,  "  are  of  first  importance ;  the  sovereign 
is  of  the  least." 

I  will  quote  one  or  two  specimens  of  his  style  of  teach- 
ing. He  said,  "  I  like  fish,  and  I  also  like  bears'  paws." 
(Bears*  paws  being  a  rare  delicacy.)  "  If  I  cannot  have 
the   two   together,   I    will    let    the   fish  go   and   take   the 


54  CHINESE  LITERA  TURE 

bears'  paws.  So,  I  like  life,  and  I  also  like  righteous- 
ness. If  I  cannot  keep  the  two  together,  I  will  let  life 
go  and  choose  righteousness." 

Again,  "  The  great  man  is  he  who  does  not  lose  his  ^ 
child's  heart." 

"  Benevolence  is  man's  peaceful  abode  ;  righteousness 
is  his  straight  path.  Alas  !  for  those  who  leave  the 
peaceful  abode  untenanted  and  the  straight  path  untrod." 

But  the  chief  interest  attaching  to  the  name  of  Mencius 
is  due   to  his   initiating   a  great   discussion   upon    man's  n 
moral  nature.      A  glance  at  this  discussion  takes  us  out 
of  the  classics   into  one  of  the  main  lines  of  the  more 
modern  literature. 

If  you  pass  within  three  hundred  yards  of  any  Chinese 
school  you  are  made  aware  of  its  existence  by  the  extra- 
ordinary sounds  that  issue  from  it.  Curious  to  trace  these 
to  their  source,  you  enter  the  small  schoolroom,  and  a 
singular  sight  presents  itself  Fifteen  or  twenty  boys  are 
sitting  at  little  tables,  each  swaying  to  and  fro  on  his 
stool  to  the  limit  of  safety,  his  head  thrown  back  to  the 
horizontal,  and  with  all  his  energy  projecting  vertically 
upwards  the  wild  medley  of  sounds  that  had  caught  your 
ear.  It  is  not  that  the  boys  have  been  seized  with  sudden 
madness,  nor  is  it  a  rebellion  against  their  teacher.  It 
is  only  their  usual  quiet  way  of  getting  up  their  lessons 
by  oral  recitation.  If  you  pick  up  one  of  their  books  you 
will  find  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  that  they  are  shouting 
passages  from  a  little  book  whose  first  sentences  are — 

"  Men  at  birth,  Are  by  nature  good  ; 
By  nature  alike.  They  differ  through  training." 

— a  doctrine  of  which  in  both  its  parts  these  declaimers 
themselves  are  a  daily  refutation. 

This  doctrine — "  Men  at  birth  are  by  nature  good  "-^ 
if  not   first  promulgated   by   Mencius,   owes   to   him   its 
popularity  and  its  recognition  as  the  orthodox  view  of 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  55 

human  nature.  It  was  disputed  in  his  lifetime  by  Kau 
Tsze,  who  maintained  that  human  nature  was  neither 
good  nor  bad  but  indifferent.  Kau  Tsze  said  :  "  Man's 
nature  is  like  water  whirling  round.  Open  a  passage  for 
it  on  the  east,  and  it  will  flow  to  the  east ;  open  a  passage 
for  it  on  the  west,  and  it  will  flow  to  the  west.  Man's 
nature  is  indifferent  to  good  and  evil,  just  as  water  is 
indifferent  to  east  and  west." 

To  which  Mencius,  with  his  happy  art  of  illustration, 
replied  :  "  Water  indeed  will  flow  indifferently  east  or 
west,  but  will  it  flow  indifferently  up  or  down  ?  The 
goodness  of  man's  nature  is  like  water's  flowing  down- 
ward. ...  As  for  water,  by  striking  it,  and  making  it 
leap  up,  you  may  force  it  over  your  forehead  ;  by  con- 
fining and  leading  it  you  may  force  it  uphill,  but  is  this 
the  nature  of  water  ?  It  is  done  by  forcing  it.  So  man's 
liability  to  do  evil  arises  from  his  nature  being  dealt  with 
in  this  way." 

The  views  of  Mencius  are  still  more  strongly  opposed 
by  Seun  K'ing,  who  begins  his  treatise  by  asserting 
broadly  "  Man's  nature  is  evil ;  the  good  is  artificial." 
He  founds  chiefly  on  the  fact  that  the  practice  of  virtue 
requires  effort,  and  declares  that  benevolence  and  righteous- 
ness are  as  much  artificial  products,  i,e.  are  as  unnatural, 
as  is  the  vessel  made  from  the  potter's  clay. 

The  next  great  name  in  this  discussion  is  that  of  Han 
Yii,  a  brilliant  scholar,  statesman,  letter-writer,  essayist 
and  poet  of  the  ninth  century  of  our  era.  He  was  a 
minister  of  the  Emperor  Hien  Tsung,  when  the  latter  in 
8 1 9  A.D.  arranged  to  receive  with  great  honours  as  a  relic 
of  Buddha  a  piece  of  bone  which  was  brought  to  his 
capital.  Against  this  proceeding  Han  Yu  protested  in  a 
spirited  memorial  which  is  still  extant,  under  the  title  of 
"  Memorial  on  the  Bone."  He  set  forth  to  the  Emperor 
the  long  and  glorious  reigns  of  his  ancestors,  and  the 
peace  of  the  people  in  the  great  ages  before  Buddhism  had 


56  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

been  thought  of,  and  enlarged  on  the  folly  of  going  out  to 
receive  with  royal  honours  an  old  rotten  bone  of  a  man 
who,  if  he  had  come  to  China  in  his  lifetime,  would  have 
been  received  only  as  a  suppliant  from  a  barbarous  land. 
This  was  much  too  plain  speaking  for  the  Imperial 
devotee,  and  Han  Yu  was  sentenced  to  death.  On  the 
remonstrance  of  his  fellow-ministers  this  sentence  was 
commuted,  and  he  was  banished  under  the  guise  of  an 
appointment  to  the  post  of  governor  of  what  was  then  the 
barbarous  region  near  Swatow.  Here  he  taught  the  bar- 
barous people,  and  is  still  remembered  as  their  greatest 
benefactor.  His  expulsion  of  the  demon  of  ignorance  is 
symbolised  in  a  legend  of  his  expulsion  from  the  rivers  of 
a  huge  crocodile.  The  remonstrance  which  he  addressed 
to  it,  which  is  to  be  found  among  his  works,  is  a  curious 
combination  of  solemnity  and  humour.  He  is  worshipped 
now  in  a  temple  erected  to  his  honour  as  at  once  the 
Cadmus  and  the  St  Patrick  of  South  China. 

Han  Yu  took  up  in  turn  the  controversy  about  human 
nature,  with  a  minuter  analysis  than  the  early  philo- 
sophers. In  his  "  Essay  on  Human  Nature "  he  sets 
forth  that  "  there  are  three  grades  of  the  nature — the 
superior,  the  middle  and  the  inferior.  The  superior 
grade  is  good,  and  good  only ;  the  middle  grade  is 
capable  of  being  led  ;  it  may  rise  to  the  superior,  or  sink 
to  the  inferior  ;  the  inferior  is  evil,  and  evil  only."  He 
condemns  his  predecessors  as  having  had  in  their  view 
only  the  middle  grade.  As  applied  to  it  their  differing 
views  were  all  alike  right,  but  all  were  wrong  in  neglecting 
to  recognise  the  superior  and  the  inferior  grades,  the 
absolutely  good  and  the  absolutely  bad. 

He  supports  his  views  by  references  to  the  well-known 
names  of  antiquity — the  bad,  bad  from  their  birth,  the 
good,  good  from  their  birth  :  some  growing  up  under  the 
best  of  training,  yet  turning  out  villains  ;  others  taught 
nothing  but  evil,  yet  growing  up  to  be  sages. 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  57 

Han  Yii  no  doubt  did  service  in  showing  the  com- 
plexity of  the  problem,  but  his  own  view  is  too  empirical, 
and  so  to  speak  opportunist,  to  offer  a  real  solution.  Its 
parts  are  too  obviously  framed  to  meet  the  difficulties  of 
the  arguments  employed  by  others  ;  they  are  not  dictated 
by  the  inner  recognition  of  necessary  truth. 

Still  later,  the  discussion  is  taken  up  by  Chu  Tsze,  the 
most  famous  of  all  Chinese  scholars  since  classical  times. 
He  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  has  powerfully 
influenced  all  later  Chinese  thought. 

Ostensibly  he  agrees  with  Mencius  as  to  the  moral 
nature  of  man,  affirming  that  it  is  entirely  good.  But 
this  heaven-given  nature  consists  of  the  abstractions, 
benevolence,  justice,  propriety,  and  wisdom,  and  is  therefore 
itself  a  non-material  abstraction.  In  order  to  realise  itself 
this  immaterial  nature  unites  with  a  material  essence,  and 
this  introduces  an  element  of  evil  which  resists  and  thwarts 
the  manifestations  of  the  good  nature.  Finally,  another 
essential  nature  emerges,  which  subsists  in  the  union  of 
the  material  and  the  immaterial  natures,  and  depends  in 
its  own  character  upon  the  predominance  of  the  one  or 
the  other.  It  is  the  function  of  education  to  enable  this 
indeterminate  nature  to  overcome  the  material  and  assimi- 
late the  immaterial.  When  this  is  done  you  have  a  good 
man  in  actual  life. 

Probably  you  feel  that  I  have  given  you  too  much  of 
this  age-long  controversy.  I  purposely  make  no  com- 
parison of  its  results  with  those  of  Western  philosophy, 
and  avoid  describing  it  in  the  technical  language  of 
European  thought.  Tedious  as  it  is,  it  is  full  of  interest 
as  showing  that  the  antinomies  of  human  life  and  character 
have,  in  China  as  elsewhere,  pressed  heavily  on  all  earnest 
thinkers.  They  too  have  recognised,  if  they  have  not 
groaned  under,  the  law  of  the  members  warring  against 
the  law  of  the  mind. 

To   Christian    missionaries   to   China  it  is  of  profound 


58  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

significance  that  we  address  ourselves  to  a  people  whose 
popular  thought  is  penetrated  by  a  consciousness  on  the 
one  hand  of  the  high  destiny  of  man,  and  the  essential 
dignity  of  his  moral  nature  ;  and  by  a  conviction  on  the 
other,  that  in  the  practical  art  of  living  there  is  a  wide 
divergence  from  the  standard  of  the  ideal. 

Vast  regions  of  Chinese  literature  I  .must  pass  over 
without  even  naming  them.  But  there  is  one  school  of 
thought  which  I  cannot  wholly  omit — the  school  of  the 
Taoists,  the  Hegelians  of  China,  whose  system  forms  the 
third,  with  so-called  Confucianism  and  Buddhism,  of  the 
religions  of  China. 

The  founder  of  Taoism  was  Lau  Tsze,  who  was  born 
about  604  B.C.,  and  thus  contemporary  with  Confucius, 
but  senior  to  him  by  fifty  years.  The  two  philosophers 
had  one  interview  from  which  Confucius  seems  to  have 
come  off  dazzled  and  perplexed.  Lau  Tsze  did  not 
approve  of  him,  and  said  so,  and  Confucius  on  his  part 
could  not  understand  the  flights  of  Lau  Tsze. 

It  is  a  noticeable  feature  of  Chinese  thought,  so  far  as 
we  have  now  glanced  at  it,  that  it  is  wholly  lacking  in 
the  region  of  metaphysics.  Practical  ethics  based  upon 
example  and  the  instincts  of  the  best  men,  with  some 
analysis  of  results  such  as  we  have  seen  in  the  long  con- 
troversy about  human  nature,  sufficed  for^the  philosophy 
of  the  Confucian  school. 

The  field  of  metaphysics,  neglected  by  others,  was 
earnestly  cultivated  by  Lau  Tsze  and  his  followers  of  the 
Taoist  school.  Their  favourite  word  "  Tao "  means 
"  reason "  or  "  principle,"  but  as  used  by  them  has  a 
deeper  meaning  which  is  not  easily  grasped.  Lau  Tsze 
left  behind  him  a  single  work,  the  "  Tao  Teh  King,"  a 
title  which  I  am  tempted  to  translate,  "  A  Treatise  on  the 
Absolute  and  the  Actual."  It  is  a  book  of  no  great  bulk, 
but  of  profound  interest.  It  is  written,  unfortunately,  in 
an  extremely  obscure  style,  and  is  characterised  by  great 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  59 

brevity  of  expression,  and  the  use  of  common  words  in 
unusual  ways.  It  thus  presents  great  difficulties  to  the 
student.  The  question  has  been  raised  whether  this 
classic  is  indeed  the  work  of  Lao  Tsze,  but  there  seems 
to  be  no  sufficient  reason  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  it. 
Lao  Tsze  might  be  described  as  a  pre-historic  Hegelian, 
and  unlike  Confucius,  his  chief  interest  seems  to  have  lain 
in  the  metaphysical  basis  of  his  thinking.  The  character- 
istic word  of  his  great  treatise  is  the  word  "  Tao,"  which 
has  been  used  in  later  times  to  describe  the  system  of 
Taoism.  The  word  "  Tao "  has  also  been  used  in  the 
translations  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  to  represent  the 
word  "  'koyoc"  in  the  Gospel  of  St  John.  As  used  by  Lao 
Tsze,  the  word  "tao,"  which  originally  means  "a  road," 
seems  sometimes  to  mean  "  the  right  way,"  or  "  the 
path  " ;  sometimes  "  the  principle  of  things,"  or  "  right 
reason  "  ;  sometimes  "  the  course  of  nature  "  ;  while  some- 
times it  seems  almost  undistinguishable  from  the  idea 
of  God. 

I  will  read  a  passage  to  illustrate  his  use  of  this  term. 
"  There  was  something  undefined  and  complete,  coming 
into  existence  before  Heaven  and  Earth.  How  still  it  was 
and  formless,  standing  alone  and  undergoing  no  change, 
reaching  everywhere  and  in  no  danger !  It  may  be 
regarded  as  the  Mother  of  all  things. 

"  I  do  not  know  its  name,  and  I  give  it  the  designation 
of  the  Tao.  Making  an  effort  to  give  it  a  name,  I  call 
it  The  Great.  .  .  . 

"  Man  takes  his  law  from  the  Earth  ;  the  Earth  takes 
its  law  from  Heaven  ;  Heaven  takes  its  law  from  the 
Tao.     The  law  of  the  Tao  is  its  being  what  it  is." 

So  in  an  earlier  passage  he  says  the  Tao  is  the 
Originator  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  and  again,  "  I  do  not 
know  whose  son  it  is.  It  might  appear  to  have  been 
before  God." 

Commenting  on  these  passages  Dr  Legge  has  asked, 


6o  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

"  Was  he  groping  after  God,  if  haply  he  might  find  Him  ?  " 
and  answers  the  question  by  saying,  "  I  think  he  was,  and 
he  gets  so  far  as  to  conceive  of  Him  as  *  the  Uncaused 

^  Cause,'  but  comes  short  of  the  idea  of  His  personaHty." 
It  is  not  necessary  to  dispute  this  judgment  of  charity, 
but  there  was  already  in  China,  long  before  Lao  Tsze, 
some  knowledge  of  God,  and  one  searches  in  vain  for  any 
adequate  recognition  of  it  in  his  writings.  He  seems  to 
have  directed  his  thinking  more  to  the  abstract  conditions 
of  Being  as  a  philosophical  problem,  and  to  the  harmonious 
adjustment  of  the   individual    life   with  these  conditions. 

,  Apparently  he  felt  no  necessity  for  considering  man's 
relation  with  a  personal  God.  Any  satisfaction  which 
Taoism  may  have  to  offer  to  the  religious  sense  must  be 
looked  for  in  other  departments  of  the  Taoist  School.  It 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Lao  Tsze  and  his 
immediate  followers. 

Some  further  idea  of  Lao  Tsze's  thinking  may  be  got 
from  such  passages  as  the  following  : — "  We  look  at  it, 
and  we  do  not  see  it,  and  we  name  it  '  the  Equable.' 
We  listen  to  it,  and  we  do  not  hear  it,  and  we  name  it 
'  the  Inaudible.'  We  try  to  grasp  it,  and  do  not  get  hold 
of  it,  and  we  name  it  '  the  Subtle.'  .  .  .  Ceaseless  in  its 
action,  it  yet  cannot  be  named,  and  then  again  it  returns 
and   becomes   nothing.      This   is  called  the  Form  of  the 

f  Formless,  and  the  Semblance  of  the  Invisible ;  this 
is  called  the  Fleeting  and  Indeterminable."  This  is 
another  of  the  attempts  of  Lao  Tsze  to  adumbrate  his 
idea  of  the  "  Tao."  It  is  not  "  Reason,"  nor  "  Pure  Being," 
but  seems  to  be  more  nearly  than  anything  else  the 
"  Becoming "  of  Hegel.  Add  to  his  descriptions  of 
"  Tao,"    Lao    Tsze's    doctrines   that   "  Wu   wei,"   that   is, 

^"  doing  nothing,"  is  the  secret  of  being  irresistible,  and 

?  that  non-existence  is  the  only  stable  form  of  Being,  and 
you  have  some  of  the  elements  of  Hegel's  philosophy 
anticipated  in  China  by  twenty-four  centuries.     "  It  is  the 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  6i 

way  of  Heaven,"  he  says,  "  not  to  strive,  and  yet  it  skil- 
fully overcomes  ;  not  to  speak,  and  yet  it  is  skilful  in 
obtaining  a  reply  ;  does  not  call,  and  yet  men  come  to  it 
of  themselves.  Its  demonstrations  are  quiet,  and  yet  its 
plans  are  skilful  and  effective.  The  meshes  of  the  net  of 
Heaven  are  large  ;  far  apart,  but  letting  nothing  escape." 
Again,  "  The  soft  overcomes  the  hard,  and  the  weak  the 
strong.  .  .  .  The  Tao  in  its  regular  course  does  nothing, 
and  so  there  is  nothing  which  it  does  not  do." 

The  value  of  non-existence  he  illustrates  thus  : — "  The 
thirty  spokes  unite  in  the  one  nave  ;  but  it  is  on  the 
empty  space  (for  the  axle)  that  the  use  of  the  wheel 
depends.  Clay  is  fashioned  into  vessels  ;  but  it  is  on 
their  empty  hollowness  that  their  use  depends.  The 
door  and  windows  are  cut  out  to  form  an  apartment ; 
but  it  is  on  the  empty  space  within  that  its  use  depends." 

The  most  brilliant  follower  of  Lao  Tsze  was  Chwang 
Tsze,  of  the  fourth  century  before  the  Christian  era. 
From  the  name  of  his  birth-place  his  great  work  is 
entitled  "  The  true  Book  of  Nan-hwa."  He  justly  says  of 
himself,  "  Of  my  sentences  nine  out  of  ten  are  meta- 
phorical." Profoundly  metaphysical,  he  relieves  his 
discussions  by  bright  apologues,  vivid  word  pictures,  and 
ingenious  and  subtle  illustrations,  while  through  the  whole 
runs  a  vein  of  delicate  satire  and  genial  humour.  Some 
of  his  strokes  are  at  his  own  expense,  and  not  a  few  are 
aimed  at  Confucius  and  his  school.  There  was  an  early 
opposition  between  the  Taoist  and  Confucian  schools. 
Their  whole  motives,  interests,  and  temperament,  were 
distinct.  One  is  tempted  to  speculate  how  different 
might  have  been  the  whole  course  of  Chinese  thought  if 
Lao  Tsze  and  Chwang  Tsze  had  gained  in  a  larger  degree 
the  ear  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  Their  leading  idea 
seems  to  have  been  the  vanity  of  human  effort.  Instead 
of  seeking  a  sphere  of  action,  as  Confucius  and  his 
followers  did,  in  the  service  of  kings,  and  as  ministers  of 


62  CHINESE  LITERA  TURE 

state,  they  rather  affected  the  hermit  life,  and  withdrew 
from  worldly  affairs.  They  did  this,  not  merely  to  secure 
leisure  for  study  and  the  contemplative  life,  but  as  putting 
themselves  into  the  right  relation  to  the  system  of  nature, 
^in  which,  according  to  them,  everything  that  is  truly  great 
is  done  without  exertion  and  without  noise.  Chwang 
Tsze  echoes  his  master's  teaching  in  his  remark,  "  Heaven 
does  nothing,  and  thence  comes  its  serenity  ;  Earth  does 
nothing,  and  thence  comes  its  rest.  By  the  union  of 
these  two  inactivities  all  things  are  produced.  How  vast 
and  imperceptible  is  the  process  ! — they  seem  to  come 
from  nowhere  !  How  im.perceptible  and  vast ! — there  is 
no  visible  image  of  it.  All  things  in  their  variety  grow 
from  this  inaction.  Hence  it  is  said,  '  Heaven  and  Earth 
do  nothing,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  that  they  do  not 
do.'  But  what  man  is  there  that  can  attain  to  this 
inaction  ?  " 

Again,  on  similar  grounds,  but  with  perhaps  a  less 
noble  application  of  his  principle,  he  devotes  a  whole 
book  of  his  treatise  to  illustrating  the  advantage  of  being 
of  no  use,  and  ends  it  thus,  "  The  cinnamon  tree  can  be 
eaten,  and  therefore  it  is  cut  down.  The  varnish  tree 
is  useful,  and  therefore  incisions  are  made  in  it.  All 
men  know  the  advantage  of  being  useful,  but  no  one 
knows  the  advantage  of  being  useless." 

From  this  point  of  view  Chwang  Tsze  frequently 
criticises,  with  no  little  severity,  what  he  regarded  as  the 
restless  fussiness  of  Confucius,  and  the  two  schools  have 
from  the  beginning  gone  their  several  ways,  with  but  little 
regard  for  each  other. 

Looking  at  their  controversy  from  an  independent 
point  of  view,  one  may  say  that  the  sober  practical  spirit 
of  Confucius  might  have  imposed  wholesome  restraints 
upon  the  flights  of  the  Taoists,  and  on  the  other  hand  the 
speculative  daring  and  the  deeper  questionings  of  the 
Taoist   philosophers    would    have    greatly   enriched    and 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  63 

deepened  the  too  restrained  and  cold  didactic  teaching  of 
Confucius.  The  speculative  vein  of  Chwang  Tsze  may 
be  judged  from  this  dilemma  :  "  I  dreamt  that  I,  Chwang 
Tsze,  was  a  butterfly  flying  about  enjoying  itself.  I  did 
not  know  that  it  was  Chwang  Tsze.  Suddenly  I  awoke, 
and  was  myself  again,  the  veritable  Chwang  Tsze.  I  did 
not  know  whether  it  had  formerly  been  Chwang  Tsze 
dreaming  that  he  was  a  butterfly,  or  it  was  now  a  butter- 
fly dreaming  that  it  was  Chwang  Tsze." 

He  introduces  an  old  fisherman  having  an  interview, 
probably  imaginary,  with  Confucius.  The  sage  was 
singing  in  a  forest,  accompanying  himself  on  the  lute, 
while  his  disciples  were  sitting  round  him  reading.  The 
fisherman  got  out  of  his  boat  and  came  towards  them. 
"  His  beard  and  eyebrows  were  turning  white  ;  his  hair 
was  all  uncombed  ;  and  his  sleeves  hung  idly  down." 
Pointing  to  Confucius  he  asked  who  he  was,  and  what  his 
occupation  ;  to  which  the  answer  is,  "  He  manifests  bene- 
volence and  righteousness  ;  he  cultivates  the  ornaments  of 
ceremonies  and  music  ;  he  pays  special  attention  to  the 
relationships  of  society." 

This  definition  of  the  functions  of  Confucius  leads  the 
old  man  to  ask  whether  he  were  a  ruler  or  assistant  to  a 
ruler.  Learning  that  he  was  not,  the  old  man  withdrew, 
laughing  and  muttering,  "  Benevolence  is  benevolence  .  .  . 
but  alas !  how  far  is  he  from  the  proper  way  of  life." 
Confucius  followed  him  anxious  for  explanations,  and  an 
amusing  colloquy  ensues,  in  which  the  sage  has  to  listen 
respectfully  to  some  very  plain  speaking,  the  old  fisher- 
man charging  him  with  meddling  with  other  people's 
affairs,  and  with  loquacity,  ambition,  and  conceit,  summing 
up  with  this  parable  :  "  There  was  a  man  who  was 
frightened  at  his  shadow  and  disliked  to  see  his  footprints, 
so  that  he  ran  to  escape  from  them.  But  the  more  fre- 
quently he  lifted  his  feet,  the  more  numerous  his  foot- 
prints were  ;  and  however  fast  he  ran,  his  shadow  did  not 


64  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

leave  him.  He  thought  he  was  going  too  slow,  and  ran 
on  with  all  his  speed  without  stopping,  till  his  strength 
was  exhausted  and  he  died.  He  did  not  know  that  if 
he  had  stayed  in  a  shady  place  his  shadow  would  have 
disappeared,  and  that  if  he  had  remained  still  he  would 
have  lost  his  footprints.  His  stupidity  was  excessive  !  " 
Turning  upon  Confucius  with  "  And  you,  sir  !  "  the  old 
fisherman  presses  home  the  moral,  which  obviously  is  to 
disparage  the  somewhat  fussy  activity  of  Confucius  as  a 
public  teacher,  and  to  recommend  to  him  the  practice  of 
Tao,  inactivity  or  laissez-faire,  as  the  way  at  once  of 
peace  and  of  real  influence. 

An  enthusiastic  native  commentator  says  of  Chwang 
Tsze's  style  :  "  There  are  so  many  changes  and  transforma- 
tions, so  many  pauses  and  rests  as  in  music,  conflicting 
discussions  and  subtle  disquisitions,  the  pencil's  point  now 
hidden  in  smoke  and  now  among  the  clouds,  that  no  one 
who  has  not  made  himself  familiar  with  a  myriad  volumes 
should  presume  to  look  and  pronounce  on  this  book. 
The  features  come  and  go  on  the  paragraphs  like  the 
clouds  in  the  open  firmament,  changing  every  moment 
and  delightful  to  behold." 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  whole  attitude  of  Chwang 
Tsze  that  he  attached  no  importance  to  the  rites  of  burial 
which  were  to  Confucius  all  important.  We  read  : 
"  When  Chwang  Tsze  was  about  to  die  his  disciples 
signified  their  wish  to  give  him  a  grand  burial."  "  I 
shall  have  heaven  and  earth,"  said  he,  *'  for  my  coffin  and 
its  shell  ;  the  sun  and  moon  for  my  two  round  symbols 
of  precious  stone,  the  stars  and  constellations  for  my 
pearls  and  jewels  ;  and  all  things  assisting  as  the  mourners. 
Will  not  the  provisions  for  my  burial  be  complete  ? 
What  could  you  add  to  them  ?  " 

In  some  of  his  utterances  there  seems  to  be  a  real, 
though  dim  and  uncertain,  feeling  after  God,  and  outlook 
towards  the  future  life  ;  as  when  he  says,  "  The  ancients 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  65 

described  death  as  the  loosening  of  the  cord  on  which 
God  suspended  the  Hfe.  What  we  can  point  to  are  the 
faggots  that  have  been  consumed  ;  but  the  fire  is  trans- 
mitted elsewhere,  and  we  know  not  that  it  is  over  and 
ended." 

I  have  not  referred  to  the  Buddhist  literature.  It  is 
very  extensive,  but  represents  a  strain  of  thought  that  is 
not  purely  native.  An  interesting  branch  of  it  consists  of 
travels  of  Buddhist  pilgrims  who  made  their  way  from 
China  to  India  overland  to  visit  for  themselves  the  holy 
places  of  Buddhism.  Their  popular  books  consist  of 
litanies  which  are  often  mere  transliterations  from  Sanscrit 
or  Pali  originals,  meaningless  to  Chinese  readers  ;  tales  of 
the  Buddhist  gods,  and  exhortations  to  virtuous  living  on 
Buddhist  methods.      Into  this  field  I  cannot  enter. 

I  have  been  dealing  chiefly  with  the  graver  productions 
of  philosophers  and  historians.  But  light  literature  and 
fiction  abound. 

There  are  two  main  types  of  the  Chinese  novel.  In 
one  a  youth  of  rare  literary  gifts  falls  deep  in  love  with  a 
young  lady  of  equal  attainments  and  of  matchless  beauty. 
They  correspond  by  original  verses  dropped  into  the 
river  or  thrown  over  the  garden  wall.  The  verses  of  the 
one  are  capped  by  the  other.  The  young  student  takes 
his  degree,  and  all  seems  going  bravely  when  harsh  fate 
intervenes  and  separates  the  lovers.  After  endless  adven- 
tures and  unheard  of  sorrows,  through  all  which  the  pair 
remain  faithful,  the  hour  of  fate  arrives.  The  student, 
now  become  a  mandarin,  recognises  his  beloved  in  one  of 
the  parties  in  a  suit  that  is  tried  before  him.  He  rescues 
her  from  her  enemies,  bestows  official  rank  upon  her 
father,  marries  her,  and  under  the  special  favour  of  the 
Emperor,  they  live  happy  ever  after. 

The  other  type  is  the  historical  novel.  Perhaps  on  the 
whole  the  best  sample  of  it  is  the  romance  called  "  The 
Three  Kingdoms."     Founded  though  it  is  upon  authentic 

E 


66  CHINESE  LITER  A  TURE 

history,  and  recording  the  doings  of  historical  personages, 
it  is  yet  sufficiently  embellished  to  rank  as  a  work  of 
fiction. 

The  scene  is  laid  among  the  rival  states  of  the  third 
century  of  our  era.  The  "  Three  Kingdoms,"  from  which 
the  work  takes  its  name,  were  Shuh,  Wei,  and  Wu.  The 
great  Han  dynasty,  which  I  have  mentioned  already  as 
succeeding  the  epoch  of  the  burning  of  the  books  in  200 
B.C.,  had  now  come  to  its  end,  after  four  hundred  years  of 
glory  so  great  that  the  Chinese  still  love  to  style  them- 
selves "  Men  of  Han." 

Lui  Pei,  Chief  of  Shuh,  was  the  legitimate  successor  of 
the  house  of  Han,  but  was  opposed  by  his  rivals,  Tshau 
Tshau  of  Wei,  with  his  green  eyes  and  red  hair,  and 
Sun  Khuan  of  Wu.  Lui  Pei,  with  ears  drooping  to  his 
shoulders,  arms  reaching,  like  Rob  Roy's,  to  his  knees, 
and  eyes  that  could  look  backwards,  is  the  hero  of  the 
tale,  which  culminates,  but  does  not  end,  by  placing  him 
on  the  Imperial  throne. 

There  are  said  to  be  seven  hundred  characters  in  the 
work,  and  sometimes  one  is  at  a  loss  to  say  which  of 
them  has  become  for  the  time  the  hero.  Certainly  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  and  interesting  figures  in  the 
drama,  as  one  might  call  it,  is  the  famous  councillor, 
Tsu-ko  Liang,  whom  Lui  Pei  calls  to  his  assistance. 
Tsu-ko  Liang  is  a  typical  Chinese  scholar,  not  a  book- 
worm but  a  man  of  affairs,  and  supposed  to  be  always 
provided  with  a  plan  ready  for  production  on  every 
emergency,  whether  of  peace   or   war. 

He  had  been  living  retired  on  a  mountain  peak  in  a  hut 
of  reeds  when  Lui  Pei,  hearing  of  his  wisdom,  sought  him 
out  and  begged  him  to  become  his  counsellor.  It  was 
by  the  subtilty  and  address  of  Tsu-ko  Liang  that  Lui 
Pei  at  length  reached  the  throne. 

One  of  the  most  striking  scenes  of  the  book  is  when 
Tsu-ko  Liang  is  sent  to  the  Court  of  Wu  to  induce  Sun 


AND  PHILOSOPHY  67 

Khuan  to  join  Lui  Pei  in  taking  up  arms  against  Tshau 
Tshau.  There  follows  what  is  called  a  war  of  the  tongue 
in  which  the  envoy,  so  handsome  and  elegant  with  his 
grand  and  haughty  figure,  more  than  holds  his  own 
against  over  twenty  of  the  civil  and  military  counsellors 
of  Wu,  sitting  in  state  with  their  high  caps,  broad 
girdles,  and  elegant  robes.  Their  attack  is  bitter,  but 
clumsy,  and  the  champion  silences  them  one  by  one  by 
subtle  argument,  rapid  retort,  and  apt  historical  allusion. 
Tsu-ko  Liang  carries  his  point,  and  the  councillors  con- 
sent to  appeal  to  arms.  A  great  battle  follows,  which 
leads  on  to  the  issue  of  the  drama.  The  whole  is  worked 
out  with  skill  and  vigour,  and  forms  to  the  foreign  reader 
a  revelation  of  Chinese  character. 

Now,  what  is  the  impression  left  upon  your  minds  by 
the  rapid  survey  we  have  taken  of  a  few  samples  of 
Chinese  literature  ? 

Firstly,  I  fear,  of  weariness. 

That  feeling  is  itself  instructive.  The  Chinese  people 
oppress  us  by  the  sheer  weight  of  their  numbers  and  the 
vast  extent  of  their  country.  The  problems,  political, 
social,  and  religious,  which  they  present  to  us,  are  on  an 
enormous  scale.  Both  in  political  life  and  in  the  mission 
of  the  Christian  Church,  Chinese  questions  require  us  to 
brace  ourselves  to  deal  with  them  with  broad  outlook  and 
unwearying  patience,  and  with  resolute  firmness  of  grasp. 

The  people  who  have  made  the  literature  of  China,  and 
whom  the  literature  in  its  turn  sets  before  us,  are  not  a 
race  whom  we  can  afford  to  ignore  or  to  despise. 

Their  literature  shows  them  endowed  with  all  the  gifts 
that  make  a  great  people.  It  presents  immense  variety 
and  great  breadth  of  interest.  There  is  in  it  a  strong 
sense  of  reality  and  grasp  of  things  as  they  actually  are. 
There  is  in  the  better  parts  of  the  literature  great  purity 
of  moral  tone.  The  Chinese  are  not  a  moral  people,  and 
a    work    entitled    "  A    Collection  of   Family  Treasures " 


68  CHINESE  LITERATURE 

gives,  along  with  many  useful  chapters  on  education,  on 
agricultural  pursuits  and  household  work,  one  melancholy 
section  entitled  "  A  Good  Laugh,"  which  consists  entirely 
of  vile  stories.  But  the  established  standard  of  moral 
judgment  condemns  such  things.  The  stories  of  the 
gods  are  not,  as  in  India,  records  of  vice,  and  vice  has 
never  in  China,  as  in  India,  been  made  a  branch  of 
religion.  In  preaching  the  ethics  of  Christianity  we  have 
the  conscience  of  the  people  and  the  judgment  of  their 
great  writers  on  our  side. 

The  historical  portions  of  the  literature,  and  their 
writers  on  law  and  jurisprudence,  prove  the  capacity  of 
the  Chinese  mind  for  self-government,  and  for  the  main- 
tenance and  development  of  their  national  greatness ; 
while  its  philosophical  and  artistic  portions  show  them 
well  fitted  to  bear  their  part  in  the  intellectual  life  of 
the   world. 

In  China  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  weak  race  who 
decay  at  the  touch  of  the  foreigner.  They  are  a  strong 
people — a  people  whom  we  can  respect,  and  whom,  when 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  has  touched  them  and  us,  we  can  even 
learn  to  love. 


LECTURE  III 

THE    RELIGIONS    OF    CHINA 
Part  I. — Confucianism 

The  religious  problem  in  China  is  one  of  no  little  com- 
plexity. It  differs  in  details  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  but  in  its  main  features  is  alike  throughout  the 
Empire.  It  may  be  studied  in  either  of  two  ways.  First, 
we  may  trace  its  history  and  theoretical  aspects  in  their 
literature  ;  secondly,  we  may  study  the  practical  religion 
of  the  people  as  it  is  seen  in  daily  life.  These  two  views 
of  Chinese  religion  will  lead  us  to  very  different  results. 
Those  who  study  the  problem  in  books  only,  are  apt  to 
read  into  the  religious  books  of  China  many  ideas  which 
are  really  drawn  from  Christian  sources.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  practical  working  of 
religion  amongst  the  people,  we  shall  be  apt  to  fall  into 
the  opposite  error  of  attributing  to  them  only  complicated 
superstitions  not  capable  of  any  rational  explanation. 
Speaking  broadly,  the  Chinese  cannot  be  called  a  natur- 
ally religious  people.  Their  natural  temperament  is 
strong  on  the  practical  side,  but  they  have  little  interest 
in  what  is  merely  theoretical,  and  are  not  readily  moved 
by  sentiment.  Their  philosophy  and  their  religion  alike 
have  concerned  themselves  more  with  the  application  of 
principles  to  character  and  daily  life,  and  the  great  classi- 
cal books  of  China  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  treating  of 
religion  at  all.  This  feature  of  the  Chinese  temperament 
has  been  well  described  by  Pere  Callery,  a  Romish  mis- 
sionary, in  commenting  on    one   of  the   classical   books, 

69 


JO  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

He  says  :  "  The  *  Record  of  Rites,'  that  of  all  the  classics 
in  which  religious  questions  ought  naturally  to  have  been 
treated,  in  regard  to  the  sacrifices  to  Heaven,  to  the 
tutelary  gods,  and  to  the  ancestors,  glides  lightly  over 
everything  that  is  purely  speculative,  and  only  mentions 
these  weighty  matters  with  extreme  indifference.  In  my 
view  this  proves  two  things  :  first,  that  in  ancient  times 
the  greatest  geniuses  of  China  have  only  possessed  ob- 
scure, uncertain,  and  often  contradictory  notions  in  regard 
to  the  Creator  and  to  the  nature  and  destinies  of  the 
soul  ;  second,  that  the  Chinese  possess  in  a  very  feeble 
degree  the  religious  sentiment,  and  that  they  do  not 
experience,  like  the  races  of  the  West,  the  imperious  need 
of  sounding  the  mysteries  of  the  invisible  world."  In 
these  respects  the  Chinese  differ  widely  from  the  Hindoos. 
The  latter  are  passionately  fond  of  metaphysical  abstrac- 
tions and  speculations,  and  are  readily  and  strongly  moved 
by  sentiment.  In  visiting  India  I  was  greatly  struck  by 
the  apparent  difference  between  the  Hindoos  and  the 
Chinese  in  the  outward  performance  of  their  worship. 
The  Hindoo  worshipper  seems,  at  least,  to  be  deeply 
absorbed  in  the  ceremony  or  prayers  with  which  he  is 
occupied.  The  Chinese,  on  the  other  hand,  generally 
seems  to  be  going  through  his  worship  in  a  perfunctory 
manner  as  a  thing  which  is  necessary  to  be  done,  but 
which  is  done  without  much  absorption  of  mind  ;  and  if 
he  finds  himself  watched  during  his  religious  observances 
he  assumes  an  apologetic  air,  as  one  who  has  been  de- 
tected in  doing  something  of  which  he  is  rather  ashamed. 
In  passing  along  the  Ganges  in  front  of  the  ghats  of 
Benares,  one  saw  hundreds  of  men  and  women  bathing  in 
the  sacred  waters  of  the  river,  or  sprinkling  it  upon  their 
heads,  folding  their  hands  and  reciting  prayers  with  an 
air  of  devotion  which  seemed  to  express  some  real  religi- 
ous feeling.  Such  a  scene  is  rarely,  if  ever,  seen  in  China. 
The  Chinese  worshipper  is    usually  indifferent   to   inter- 


CONFUCIANISM  71 

ruption,  and  gives  the  impression  that  he  is  little  con- 
cerned in  his  religious  observances.  I  have  visited  many 
Chinese  temples,  and  observed  the  conduct  and  manner 
of  the  worshippers,  but  only  once  have  I  seen  the  wor- 
shippers absorbed  in  their  devotions.  That  was  in  a 
large  temple  of  special  renown  which  drew  worshippers 
from  great  distances.  Entering  it  early  one  morning  I 
found  rows  of  worshippers  kneeling  within  the  temple, 
and  filling  it  from  the  front  of  the  innermost  altar  out  to 
the  outer  doors.  Many  of  them  had  brought  offerings 
which  were  deposited  on  the  ground  beside  them,  and  all 
seemed  to  be  so  absorbed  that  they  took  no  notice  of  my 
presence  ;  but  this  was  entirely  unusual.  It  is  a  much 
more  common  experience  on  entering  a  temple  to  become 
at  once  the  centre  of  interest  both  for  priests  and  wor- 
shippers. Social  worship  is  almost  unknown,  and  the 
worshippers  come  in  either  singly  or  in  small  family 
groups.  If  a  foreigner  enters  they  often  turn  aside  from 
their  devotions  to  enter  into  conversation,  and  it  not 
infrequently  happens  that  in  answer  to  their  questions  one 
is  led  to  talk  to  them  of  Christian  truth,  and  perhaps  even 
to  preach  to  a  considerable  audience  in  the  temple  itself, 
and  in  the  very  presence  of  the  idols.  Such  a  thing 
would  be  almost  impossible  in  India.  In  Benares,  where 
I  went  to  see  some  of  the  principal  temples,  we  could 
only  look  in  from  the  outer  door,  and  were  not  suffered  to 
set  foot  inside. 

If  there  is  little  enthusiasm  in  Chinese  worship,  there 
is  equally  little  fanaticism  or  bigotry.  The  alleged 
hostility  of  the  Chinese  to  Christian  missionaries  is  not 
directed  against  them  as  teachers  of  a  strange  religion, 
but  rather  as  foreigners.  There  is  undoubtedly  a  strong 
race  prejudice  against  all  foreigners,  which  is  often  stirred 
up  for  evil  purposes  by  the  literary  caste  and  by  the 
officials,  but  there  is  little  fanatical  hostility  in  the  minds 
of  the  people  to  the  preaching  of  a  new  religion. 


72  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

One  reason  for  this  is  that  to  the  Chinese  mind  the 
profession  of  a  new  religion  would  not  necessarily  imply 
the  rejection  of  the  old.  They  have  been  accustomed  for 
centuries  to  the  mingling  of  several  religions,  which  have 
accommodated  themselves  to  each  other  so  closely  that  it 
is  hardly  possible  for  the  foreign  student  to  separate  the 
elements  of  which  Chinese  religious  life  is  composed,  and 
to  trace  each  to  the  religion  to  which  it  properly  belongs. 

Speaking  generally,  there  are  three  great  religions  in 
China — the  Confucian,  the  Buddhist,  and  the  Taoist. 
But  the  people  are  not  to  be  thought  of  as  divided  into 
three  sects  professing  these  several  religions.  Every  one 
practises  all  three  on  different  occasions  and  for  different 
purposes. 

Every  city,  town,  and  village  has  its  numerous  temples, 
large  and  small,  and  these  are  to  be  found  even  in  the 
country  districts,  by  the  roadsides,  or  among  the  fields, 
and  sometimes  in  secluded  spots  where  it  seems  as  if  no 
one  could  ever  come  to  worship.  The  temples  in  the 
cities  consist  sometimes  of  great  halls,  with  gilded  images 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  height,  with  a  large  staff  of 
attendant  priests.  In  the  country  the  temple  is  often  but  a 
little  cottage  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  square,  with  two  or 
three  dusty  and  neglected  images,  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches 
in  height,  and  no  one  in  attendance.  Besides  these,  shrines 
and  images  are  to  be  found  everywhere,  in  the  streets,  by 
the  road-sides,  in  the  fields,  and  in  the  homes  of  the 
people.  The  images  in  any  household  may  often  be  found 
to  represent  all  three  of  the  popular  religions,  though 
when  this  is  the  case  it  is  not  the  result  of  design. 

Thus  the  question  which  is  often  put,  "  How  many  of 
the  Chinese  are  Buddhists,  how  many  are  Taoists,  and 
how  many  are  Confucianists  ?  "  is  really  one  which  it  is 
impossible  to  answer.  The  nearest  answer  that  can  be 
given  is  to  say  that  all  are  Confucianists,  all  are  Taoists, 
and    all    are    Buddhists.     They   have   recourse   to   these 


CONFUCIANISM  73 

different  religions  in  connection  with  different  aspects  of 
life,  and  some  persons  may  lean  more  to  the  observances 
of  one  system  than  to  those  of  another,  but  every  Chinese 
at  some  times  or  occasions,  if  not  in  his  daily  worship, 
has  recourse  to  all. 

Each  of  these  religions  recognises  as  its  head  and 
supreme  authority  an  ancient  sage,  but  their  relations 
to  the  religions  professed  by  their  followers  are  not  the 
same.  Gautama,  who  became  the  Buddha,  is  the  only 
one  of  them  who  really  founded  the  system  now  associ- 
ated with  his  name.  Confucianism  existed  long  before 
Confucius,  while  the  superstitions  of  the  Taoist  religion 
have  no  real  claim  to  connect  themselves  with  the  name 
of  Lao  Tsze,  the  great  teacher  of  the  philosophic  doctrine 
of  the  Tao. 

Confucius  was  born  in  551  B.C.,  and  died  in  479  B.C., 
but  Confucianism,  as  a  system  of  religion  and  ethics,  had 
been  in  existence  for  a  thousand  years  before  his  birth. 
He  was  not  its  founder,  but  a  follower  and  transmitter  of 
it.  He  helped  to  impress  it  upon  the  minds  of  his 
countrymen,  but  it  cannot  even  be  said  that  he  raised  it 
to  a  higher  level  in  regard  to  the  real  value  of  its  religious 
conceptions. 

Buddhism  took  its  rise  in  Northern  India,  being  founded 
there  by  Gautama,  the  Buddha.  The  date  of  his  birth 
is  uncertain,  but  may  be  placed  about  620  B.C.,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  died  about  543  B.C.  The  religion  which 
is  known  by  his  name  was  introduced  to  China  about  the 
time  of  the  Christian  era. 

The  nominal  founder  of  Taoism  was  Lao  Tsze,  who 
was  born  about  the  year  604  B.C.  He  was  more  a 
philosopher  than  a  religious  teacher,  and  can  in  no  sense 
be  held  responsible  for  the  system  which  recognises  him 
as  its  head. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  look  at  these  three  religions 
as  they  appear  in  books  and  in  the  lives  of  the  people, 


74  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

not  attempting  a  critical  analysis  of  them,  but  only 
indicating  slightly  those  aspects  of  them  which  must 
determine  our  methods  of  presenting  to  their  followers 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel. 

I.  Confucianism. — Confucianism  may  be  regarded  from 
two  points  of  view.  It  is  on  one  side  a  religion  with  a 
strict  and  somewhat  elaborate  ritual,  and  on  the  other,  it 
is  a  philosophy  or  a  system  of  ethics,  especially  as  applied 
to  state-craft,  with  hardly  any  religious  element  at  all.  In 
its  religious  aspect  Confucianism  may  be  traced  to  a  very 
early  date.  In  the  earliest  authentic  Chinese  records, 
"  The  Book  of  Odes  "  and  the  "  Book  of  Documents,"  we 
find  many  notices  which  show  that  the  early  Chinese  had 
theistic  ideas  and  religious  conceptions  of  no  mean  order. 
The  old  word  "  Ti,"  which  was  the  early  Chinese  name  for 
God,  has  been  greatly  abused  in  later  times  by  its  pro- 
miscuous application  to  many  of  their  idols.  But  in  the 
oldest  books  it  is  used,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  with 
the  addition  of  the  epithet  "  Shang "  or  "  Supreme,"  to 
describe  the  highest  idea  which  the  Chinese  people  have 
ever  formed  of  God.  Hence  "  Shang-ti "  has  been  used 
by  a  majority  of  the  missionaries  and  the  Chinese 
Christians  as  the  name  of  the  true  God,  although  this 
usage  has  always  been  objected  to  by  some.  Shang-ti  is 
spoken  of  in  the  "  Book  of  Odes  "  and  "  Book  of  Docu- 
ments "  as  a  great  spirit,  supreme  ruler,  maker  of  heaven 
and  earth,  who  raises  up  and  puts  down  sovereigns  at 
His  own  will,  who  is  inflexibly  righteous  in  all  His  deal- 
ings, has  a  watchful  regard  of  human  affairs,  and  is  the 
special  protector  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  against  violence 
and  wrong.  There  is  perhaps  nothing  said  in  these 
ancient  books  of  "  Shang-ti "  which  might  not  worthily  be 
said  of  the  one  true  God.  In  China,  at  least,  the  concep- 
tion of  God  has  not  risen  gradually  from  lower  to  higher 
levels.  We  find  it  in  the  earliest  ages  already  at  its  highest 
development,  and  whatever  changes  have  been  introduced 


CONFUCIANISM  75 

later  into  the  Chinese  conceptions  of  God  have  been  of  the 
nature  of  a  degradation  rather  than  a  development  of  the 
idea.  The  mere  existence  of  this  high  idea  in  the  books 
which  are  most  esteemed  among  the  Chinese  is  of  enor- 
mous value  to  us  as  teachers  of  Christian  truth.  We  can 
appeal  from  all  the  confused  superstitions  of  modern 
idolatry  to  a  time  when  these  things  were  unknown  to 
their  forefathers,  and  when  they  worshipped  alone  one 
Supreme  Spirit.  This  appeal  is  always  listened  to  with 
respect,  even  by  the  least  educated  Chinese  audience. 

The  appeal  is  still  further  strengthened  by  the  continu- 
ance to  the  present  day  of  a  worship  of  Shang-ti  which  is 
of  great  significance  and  interest.  To  make  the  position 
of  this  worship  in  the  religious  system  clear  I  should  pre- 
mise that  through  all  the  superstitions  which  have  degraded 
religion  in  China  there  remains  clear  to  the  Chinese  mind 
the  conception  that  "  Shang-ti "  or  God  is  the  Supreme 
Spirit,  infinitely  great,  and  far  above  all  the  deities  and 
spirits  of  the  popular  worship.  But,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  this  fact  has  never  drawn  the  popular  mind  towards 
the  worship  of  Shang-ti.  On  the  contrary,  their  feeling 
is  that  Shang-ti  is  too  great  to  be  worshipped  by  common 
men,  and  his  worship  is  confined  to  the  Emperor  alone. 
This  view  is  sometimes  justified  by  the  plea  that  as  the 
common  people  have  no  direct  access  to  the  Emperor,  but 
must  make  known  their  wants  to  him  through  the  local 
magistrates,  so  common  men  must  approach  the  Supreme 
Spirit  through  the  mediation  of  the  inferior  deities  and 
idols. 

In  the  worship  of  Shang-ti  the  Emperor  acts  as  high- 
priest  for  his  people.  Twice  a  year  he  prepares  himself 
for  special  acts  of  State  worship,  which  are  performed  at  the 
capital  with  great  solemnity  and  minute  care.  He  leaves 
his  palace  and  enters  a  temple  where  he  fasts,  and  prepares 
himself  for  the  solemn  ceremony.  Next  day,  accompanied 
by  the  highest  officials  of  the  Empire,  he  goes  out  to  what 


y^  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

is  called  the  '*  Temple  of  Heaven,"  although  the  essential 
part  of  it  is  not  a  temple  at  all.  It  consists  principally  of 
a  great  mound  or  small  artificial  hill — a  "  high  place  " — 
forming  three  terraces  rising  one  above  another,  each 
terrace  approached  by  a  flight  of  marble  stairs,  and  sur- 
rounded by  marble  railings.  At  the  top,  on  the  highest 
part  of  the  hill,  is  placed  a  table  supporting  a  small  wooden 
tablet,  which  bears  the  inscription  in  four  Chinese  char- 
acters— "  Supreme  God  of  the  Sovereign  Heavens." 
Before  this  tablet  the  Emperor — who  until  very  recent 
years  has  expected  all  earthly  ambassadors  and  even 
sovereigns  to  prostrate  themselves  before  him — prostrates 
himself,  and  prays  according  to  a  carefully  prepared  ritual, 
in  language  which  we  might  adopt  in  its  entirety  in  prayer 
to  the  true  God.  At  the  same  time  offerings  are  made  of 
precious  stones  and  bales  of  silk,  with  burnt  sacrifices  of 
slain  beasts.  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  the  language 
actually  used  in  some  of  these  Imperial  prayers  : — 

"  To  Thee,  O  mysteriously  working  Maker,  I  look  up 
in  thought.  ...  I  thy  servant  am  but  a  reed  or  a  willow  ; 
my  heart  is  but  as  that  of  an  ant ;  yet  I  have  received 
Thy  favouring  decree,  appointing  me  to  the  government 
of  the  Empire.  I  deeply  cherish  a  sense  of  my  ignorance 
and  blindness,  and  am  afraid  lest  I  prove  unworthy  of 
Thy  great  favours.  Therefore  will  I  reverently  observe 
all  the  rules  and  statutes,  striving,  insignificant  as  I  am, 
to  discharge  my  loyal  duty.  Far  distant  here  I  look  up 
to  Thy  heavenly  palace.  Come  in  Thy  precious  chariot 
to  the  altar.  Thy  servant,  I  bow  my  head  to  the  earth, 
reverently  expecting  thine  abundant  grace.  All  my 
officers  are  here  arranged  along  with  me,  joyfully 
worshipping  before  Thee.  All  the  spirits  accompany 
Thee  as  guards,  (filling  the  air)  from  the  east  to  the 
west.  Thy  servant,  I  prostrate  myself  to  meet  Thee, 
and  reverently  look  up  for  Thy  coming,  O  God.  O 
that   Thou  wouldst    vouchsafe    to    accept    our    offerings, 


CONFUCIANISM  yj 

and    regard    us,    while    thus    we   worship    Thee,   whose 
goodness  is  inexhaustible  !  " 

The  form  of  prayer  now  quoted  was  in  use  till  the 
year  1539  A.D.,  when  a  verbal  change  was  introduced 
into  the  form  of  invocation.  On  the  adoption  of  this 
change  the  following  prayers,  among  others,  were  used  : — 

"  Thou  hast  vouchsafed,  O  God,  to  hear  us,  for  Thou 
as  our  Father  dost  regard  us.  I,  Thy  child,  dull  and 
unenlightened,  am  unable  to  show  forth  my  feelings.  .  .  . 
Honourable  is  Thy  great  name.  With  reveience  we 
spread  out  these  precious  stones  and  silk,  and  as  swallows 
rejoicing  in  the  Spring,  praise  Thine  abundant  love.  .  .  . 
The  great  and  lofty  One  sends  down  His  favour  and 
regard,  which  we,  in  our  insignificance,  are  hardly  sufficient 
to  receive.  I,  His  simple  servant,  while  I  worship,  present 
this  precious  cup  to  Him  Whose  years  have  no  end.  .  .  . 
Men  and  creatures  are  emparadised,  O  God,  in  Thy  love. 
All  living  things  are  indebted  to  Thy  goodness,  but  who 
knows  whence  his  blessings  come  to  him  ?  It  is  Thou 
alone,  O  Lord,  Who  art  the  true  parent  of  all  things. 
The  service  is  completed,  but  our  poor  sincerity  cannot 
be  fully  expressed.  Thy  sovereign  goodness  is  infinite. 
As  a  potter  hast  Thou  made  all  living  things.  Great 
and  small  are  curtained  round  by  Thee.  As  engraven 
on  the  heart  of  Thy  poor  servant  is  the  sense  of  Thy 
goodness,  but  my  feeling  cannot  be  fully  displayed. 
With  great  kindness  dost  Thou  bear  with  us,  and 
notwithstanding  our  demerits  dost  grant  us  life  and 
prosperity.  .  .  .  Spirits  and  men  rejoice  together,  prais- 
ing God  the  Lord.  What  limit,  what  measure  can  there 
be,  while  we  celebrate  His  great  name?  For  ever  He 
setteth  fast  the  high  heavens,  and  shapeth  the  solid  earth. 
His  government  is  everlasting.  His  poor  servant,  I  bow 
my  head  and  lay  it  in  the  dust,  bathed  in  His  grace  and 
glory.  We  have  worshipped  and  written  the  great  Name 
on  this  gem-like  sheet.     Now  we  display  it  before  God, 


78  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

and  place  it  in  the  fire.  These  valuable  offerings  of  silks 
and  fine  meats  we  burn  also,  with  these  sincere  prayers, 
that  they  may  ascend  in  volumes  of  flame  up  to  the 
distant  azure.  All  the  ends  of  the  earth  look  up  to  Him. 
All  human  beings,  all  things  on  the  earth,  rejoice  together 
in  the  great  Name." 

When  one  reads  utterances  such  as  these,  as  represent- 
ing a  conception  of  God  which  has  remained  enshrined  in 
the  highest  act  of  Chinese  worship  from  the  beginning  of 
their  history  until  now,  one  feels  with  double  keenness  the 
deep  degradation  of  the  popular  idolatry.  The  Chinese 
have  had,  and  have  never  wholly  lost,  a  wonderfully  high 
and  true  idea  of  God,  but  they  have  not  allowed  it  to 
dominate  their  popular  religion.  They  have  confined  it 
to  the  narrow  sphere  of  a  ceremony  of  state.  It  remains 
rather  as  a  testimony  against  them  than  as  a  source  of 
spiritual  stimulus  or  religious  life. 

y  The  act  of  worship  which  I  have  now  described  re- 
presents the  Confucian  religion  at  its  best,  and  one  would 
fain  quit  the  subject  at  this  point,  but  to  do  so  would  be 
to  give  an  entirely  false  impression  of  Confucianism  as  a 
whole.  It  is  not  unjust  to  say  that  idolatry  is  a  com- 
paratively modern  development  of  Chinese  religious  life. 
At  the  same  time  its  roots  are  to  be  found  even  in  the 
old  religion,  and  we  must  trace  in  some  of  the  Confucian 
rites  beginnings,  at  least,  of  idolatry. 

In  the  Imperial  worship  of  Shang-ti  the  tablet  before 
which  the  Emperor  kneels  is  the  only  symbol  employed. 
Never  in  the  long  history  of  the  Chinese  people  has  any 
attempt  been  made,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  embody  this 
conception  of  Shang-ti  in  a  material  image  or  idol. 
Some  critics,  who  regard  with  suspicion  the  whole  of  this 
Imperial  ceremony,  draw  attention  strongly  to  the  fact 
that  near  the  tablet  of  Shang-ti  are  placed  other  tablets 
in  honour  of  five  former  emperors,  and  in  association  with 
them,  of  the  spirits  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  the 


CONFUCIANISM  79 

clouds,  rain,  wind  and  thunder.  They  have  insisted  upon 
the  view  that  these  powers  are  worshipped  alongside  of 
Shang-ti,  and  therefore  that  the  worship  offered  cannot 
rightly  be  regarded  as  a  worship  of  one  God.  In  reply 
to  this  criticism  it  must  be  said  that  these  other  tablets 
do  not  occupy  the  position  of  honour.  The  tablet  of 
Shang-ti  stands  alone,  on  a  central  table  or  altar  on  the 
highest  part  of  the  mound.  These  other  tablets,  on  the 
contrary,  are  placed  facing  each  other  on  the  two  sides  of 
the  mound,  on  a  lower  level  and  at  some  distance  from 
the  central  tablet.  Their  presence  during  the  ceremony 
seems  to  embody  an  idea  which  may  be  traced  everywhere 
in  connection  with  primitive  ideas  of  sacrifice  and  worship. 
The  ceremony  is  based  on  the  idea  of  a  feast,  and  these 
tablets  of  lesser  powers,  so  far  from  indicating  that  they 
are  worshipped  as  of  equal  rank  with  Shang-ti,  only 
emphasise  their  inferiority.  Shang-ti  is  regarded  as  the 
one  supreme  guest  who  is  invited  to  honour  the  ceremony 
by  his  presence,  and  the  Emperor,  besides  expressing  his 
own  unworthiness  in  words,  calls  in  these  lesser  spirits  to 
assist  in  doing  honour  to  Shang-ti.  The  prayers  are  not 
addressed  to  them,  but  their  names  are  invoked  as  re- 
presenting, along  with  the  Emperor  and  his  ministers,  all 
those  lesser  authorities  who  are  employed  by  God  in  the 
government  and  care  of  a  great  Empire.  The  unques- 
tioned supremacy  over  all  the  other  spirits  which  is 
attributed  to  Shang-ti  is  still  further  emphasised  by  the 
terms  used  by  the  Emperor  in  speaking  of  himself.  In 
making  the  change  to  which  I  have  referred  in  the  form 
of  invocation,  the  Emperor  of  that  time  made  a  pre- 
liminary intimation  of  it  to  all  the  spirits.  In  addressing 
them  he  uses  the  first  personal  pronoun  which  is  reserved 
for  the  Emperor  alone,  the  equivalent  of  the  sovereign 
"  WE  "  of  European  rulers.  But  in  addressing  Shang-ti 
he  always  speaks  of  himself  as  "  servant  "  or  "  minister." 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  mere 


8o  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

presence  of  these  tablets  is  liable  to  misunderstanding. 
It  is  still  more  evident  that  the  impersonation  of  the 
natural  powers,  from  whatever  motive,  is  one  of  the  first 
steps  which  may,  not  unnaturally,  lead  on  to  idolatrous 
worship.  It  was  so  in  the  mythology  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  and  it  has  been  so  in  China.  Strictly  speaking, 
the  Confucian  religion  as  expounded  by  those  writers 
who  are  recognised  officially  as  orthodox,  has  never 
admitted  the  propriety  of  any  idolatrous  practice. 

Twice  every  month  the  district  mandarins  of  the  whole 
Empire  are  instructed  to  read  and  explain  to  their  people, 
either  personally  or  by  the  appointment  of  scholars  for 
the  purpose,  a  series  of  moral  maxims.  One  of  these  is 
invariably  expounded  as  containing  a  strong  denuncia- 
tion of  the  whole  mass  of  the  popular  idolatry.  There 
are  to-day  no  Confucian  idols  in  China.  There  are 
temples  in  which  worship  is  offered  to  Confucius,  but  he 
is  not  represented  in  them  by  any  image.  His  name  is 
inscribed  on  the  tablet  in  the  central  hall,  and  the  outer 
courts  are  lined  with  tablets  representing  his  more  dis- 
tinguished followers,  but  the  whole  arrangement  may  be 
regarded  as  being  of  the  nature  of  a  memorial  rather  than 
as  a  form  of  idolatrous  worship.  But  to  get  at  the  real 
nature  of  Confucianism  we  must  not  confine  our  view  of  it 
to  the  Imperial  sacrifice  alone. 

In  the  older  classical  books  not  a  few  references  may 
be  found  to  rites  practised  by  the  ancient  chiefs  and 
leaders  of  the  Chinese  people  which  were  of  a  religious 
kind,  and  had  in  them  the  elements  of  idolatry.  Of  these 
the  practice  of  divination  is  one  of  the  earliest.  They 
used  the  stalks  of  the  millet  and  the  shell  of  the  tortoise, 
with  what  manipulations  is  not  now  known,  to  extract 
from  them  auguries  of  the  future.  They  observed  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  flight  of  birds,  and 
other  phenomena  of  animal  life  for  similar  purposes  ;  and 
this  idea  of  divination  not  only  survives  to  the  present 


CON  FU CI  A  NISM  8 1 

day  in  the  popular  idolatry,  but  gives  to  the  priests  of  the 
idolatrous  systems  at  once  one  of  their  largest  sources  of 
revenue  and  their  strongest  hold  on  the  popular  mind. 

And  in  another  direction  Confucianism  early  departed 
from  the  pure  worship  of  one  God.  In  its  earliest  records 
we  see  already  an  extreme  veneration  for  antiquity  and 
for  the  great  heroes  and  sages  whose  names  were  justly 
held  in  honour.  Not  content  with  recording  their  great 
deeds  or  wise  utterances,  their  successors  early  began  the 
practice  of  offering  to  them  posthumous  honours  which 
must  soon  have  assumed  the  form  of  acts  of  worship.  A 
certain  idea  of  immortality  seems  to  have  early  rooted 
itself  in  the  Chinese  mind.  The  dead  were  regarded  as 
having  departed  from  the  daily  life  of  men,  but  as  being 
still  existent,  and  interesting  themselves  in  the  concerns 
of  their  descendants.  Confucius  himself  represents  the 
attitude  of  the  ancient  Chinese  mind  on  this  subject, 
when  he  is  described  as  sacrificing  to  the  dead  as  if  they 
were  present.  Notwithstanding  the  dictum  of  Confucius 
that  to  make  offerings  to  spirits  with  whom  one  has  no 
personal  concern  is  flattery,  this  habit  of  making  offerings 
to  the  dead,  once  established,  spread  far  and  wide,  and 
now  forms  the  most  deep-seated  element  in  Chinese 
popular  religion. 

Everyone  has  heard  of  the  worship  of  ancestors  in 
China,  but  it  is  perhaps  not  usually  understood  what  a 
much  stronger  hold  this  worship  has  on  the  minds  of 
the  people  than  the  worship  of  idols.  When  we  consider 
Buddhism  and  Taoism  we  find  that  the  worship  of  idols 
is  almost  wholly  a  worship  of  fear,  without  any  element 
of  affection  or  regard.  In  the  worship  of  ancestors  as 
now  practised  fear  undoubtedly  plays  a  large  part,  but  I 
think  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  Chinese  people  to  deny 
that  their  attachment  to  ancestral  worship  is  in  some 
degree  connected  with  the  best  feelings  of  our  common 
nature.     There   are    expressions   in    the   classical    books, 

F 


82  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

and  one  meets  with  their  equivalent  in  actual  life,  which 
seem  to  show  that  under  the  observances — to  us  so 
meaningless — of  ancestral  worship  there  is  sometimes  a 
real  regard  and  affection  for  the  dead.  However  this 
may  be,  it  is  certainly  true  that  there  is  in  the  minds  of 
the  Chinese  people  no  greater  barrier  to  acceptance  of 
the  Gospel  than  the  statement,  so  commonly  repeated 
amongst  them,  that  we  teach  them  to  despise  their 
ancestors  and  repudiate  their  parents,  or,  as  the  Chinese 
idiom  puts  it  more  emphatically,  that  Christians  have  "  no 
father  and  no  mother."  There  are  certain  stock  objections 
to  Christian  teaching  which  pass  continually  from  mouth 
to  mouth  amongst  our  Chinese  hearers.  Many  of  these 
are  used  with  little  understanding  and  no  feeling,  but 
merely  repeated  as  being  the  usual  things  to  say,  but  this 
objection  seems  really  to  give  a  shock  to  the  popular 
conscience,  and  is  often  repeated  with  genuine  feeling.  A 
Christian  preacher  may  use  great  freedom  in  speaking  of 
the  idols,  but  he  has  to  speak  cautiously  and  with  a 
certain  tenderness  of  the  practices  and  feelings  connected 
with  ancestral  worship. 

Every  clan  and  section  of  a  clan  has  its  own  ancestral 
temple,  and  few  villages,  however  small,  are  without  one 
at  least.  In  these  are  gathered  the  ancestral  tablets  of 
preceding  generations.  The  tablet  itself  consists  of  a 
small  block  of  wood,  eight  inches  to  a  foot  in  height,  and  a 
few  inches  in  breadth,  on  the  front  of  which  is  written  the 
name  of  the  person  whom  it  represents.  It  is  sawn 
through  its  thickness  into  two  portions,  and  on  the  inner 
surface  thus  exposed  the  inscription  of  the  name  is 
repeated,  and  usually  the  date  of  birth  and  of  death  is 
added.  This  tablet  is  prepared  soon  after  death  takes 
place,  and  is  retained  during  the  lifetime  of  one  or  two 
generations  in  the  home  of  the  family.  Offerings  are 
made  in  front  of  it  from  time  to  time,  especially  on  the 
birthday  and  the  anniversary  of  death,  and   it  is  always 


CONFUCIANISM  83 

spoken  of  by  the  younger  generations  of  the  family  as 
"  our  father  and  mother  "  or  "  our  grandfather  and  grand- 
mother." As  the  tablets  of  successive  generations  begin 
to  take  their  places  in  the  home,  those  of  earlier  date  are 
removed  to  join  those  of  past  generations  in  the  ancestral 
temple.  In  connection  with  the  temple  a  careful  record 
is  kept  of  the  names  of  all  the  male  descendants  who 
constitute  the  clan,  and  each  succeeding  generation  in  be- 
queathing property  assigns  certain  portions  of  it  to  be 
used  in  all  time  coming  for  the  maintenance  of  the  offer- 
ings on  behalf  of  the  dead.  In  this  way  the  system  of 
ancestral  worship  not  only  forms  a  link  between  the  living 
and  the  past  generations  of  their  clan,  but  it  also  makes 
a  unity  of  all  the  contemporary  branches  who  are  de- 
scended from  a  common  stock.  Their  religious  interests 
and  their  rights  of  property  combine  to  knit  them  together 
in  one  corporation,  and  give  every  individual  an  interest 
in  the  whole  of  his  clan.  They  also  give  to  the  clan  an 
enormous  power  of  control  over  the  action  of  every 
individual,  and  for  this  reason  the  system  is  one  of  the 
most  powerful  influences  in  resisting  the  Gospel.  A  man 
may  become  interested  in  the  truth  and  have  a  real  desire 
to  follow  it,  and  yet  not  have  sufficient  strength  of  con- 
viction or  power  of  will  to  withstand  the  accumulated 
influence  of  all  his  blood  relations.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  system  is  entirely  different  from  the  Hindoo  caste. 
If  the  individual  has  sufficient  strength  of  purpose  to  take 
his  own  course,  and  is  sufficiently  unworldly  to  give  up 
certain  claims  to  benefits  arising  out  of  the  common 
property  held  for  sacrificial  purposes,  he  is  usually  allowed, 
not  only  to  go  his  way  unhindered,  but  also  to  retain  his 
natural  right  to  such  property  as  is  not  applied  to  religious 
uses.  The  first  individuals  in  a  clan  or  village  to  take 
the  step  of  professing  Christianity  must  expect  to  suffer 
both  ridicule  and  opposition,  which  may  sometimes  assume 
bitter  and   violent   forms.      But  if  by  the  grace  of  God 


84  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

they  are  enabled  to  stand  firm,  they  are  usually  not  only 
able  to  secure  their  own  liberty,  but  to  make  the  way 
easier  for  others  who  follow  in  the  same  path. 

The  lack  of  enthusiasm  or  fanaticism  which  I  have 
remarked  as  a  feature  of  the  Chinese  temperament  tells 
in  favour  of  those  who  separate  themselves  from  the 
ancestral  system.  Persecution  is  employed  at  the  out- 
set for  the  practical  purpose  of  compelling  them  to  abide 
in  the  old  way,  but  when  that  fails  to  effect  this  purpose 
no  personal  bitterness  seems  to  remain.  They  can  retain 
their  place  in  their  village  and  in  their  home,  earning 
their  bread  as  before,  and  joining  their  own  people  in 
all  the  ordinary  occupations  of  daily  life,  without  any 
superstitious  prejudices  being  entertained  against  them. 
The  experience  of  a  Hindoo  convert  is  extremely  different. 
From  the  moment  he  becomes  a  Christian  his  presence  is 
a  pollution  to  his  home.  If  he  should  touch  food,  or  any 
vessel  used  in  cooking,  the  whole  must  be  destroyed,  and 
even  his  shadow  falling  upon  any  article  of  household  use 
pollutes  it  beyond  recovery.  There  is  no  such  feeling  in 
the  Chinese  mind,  and  by  patience  and  forbearance  the 
Chinese  Christian  can  usually  overcome  the  opposition 
of  his  friends.  By  continuance  in  welldoing  he  often 
rises  to  a  higher  position  of  confidence  and  regard  than 
he  had  before  his  conversion. 

The  state  worship  of  Shang-ti  and  the  popular  ancestral 
worship  might  almost  be  said  to  exhaust  the  strictly 
religious  aspects  of  Confucianism,  and  you  will  gather 
from  what  I  have  said  that  both  these  systems  were  in 
existence  long  before  the  days  of  Confucius.  But  when 
we  speak  of  Confucianism,  whether  on  the  theoretical  or 
on  the  practical  side,  it  suggests  to  us  far  more  than 
these  two  forms  of  religious  worship.  Its  most  interesting 
and  potent  element  is  its  practical  teaching  as  a  system 
of  ethics.  Profoundly  representative  of  the  Chinese 
temperament,  Confucianism  offers  us  little  speculation  as  to 


CONFUCIANISM  85 

human  nature,  and  none  as  to  the  being  of  God,  or  the 
profounder  questions  which  lie  at  the  root  of  spiritual 
religion.  The  existence  of  God  was  taken  for  granted 
from  an  early  stage.  The  course  of  nature  and  the 
course  of  providence  were  regarded  as  sufficient  justifica- 
tion for  affirming  both  the  being  of  God,  His  goodness, 
and  His  righteousness.  But  all  this  was  rather  taken  for 
granted  than  reasoned  out.  It  is  referred  to  as  occasion 
requires  in  the  classical  literature,  but  is  never  largely 
dwelt  upon.  Perhaps  the  most  disappointing  feature 
which  one  meets  with  in  studying  the  course  of  Chinese 
thought  in  their  literature  is  that  the  idea  of  God  was 
clearer  and  more  influential  in  the  earliest  literature  than 
it  is  in  the  later.  I  have  said  that  "  Shang-ti  "  is  the 
term  used  in  the  ancient  classical  books  as  the  name  of 
God.  At  the  same  time  we  find  from  an  early  period 
the  word  "  Heaven  "  used  as  synonymous  with  the  more 
personal  name  "  Shang-ti."  Probably  the  two  names 
were  used,  as  the  names  of  "  God  "  and  "  Heaven  "  are 
used  among  ourselves,  without  any  intention  of  making  a 
radical  distinction  between  them  :  but  the  preference  of 
the  one  name  or  the  other,  among  the  Chinese,  as  among 
us,  doubtless  points  to  a  more  or  less  vivid  conception  of 
the  personality  of  the  Being  whom  we  so  describe. 

It  is  remarkable  that  when  we  come  to  the  discourses 
of  Confucius  as  recorded  by  his  followers,  the  ancient 
usage  of  "  Shang-ti "  as  the  name  of  God  is  almost 
abandoned,  and  we  find  instead  a  frequent  use  of  the 
more  impersonal  term  "  Heaven."  This  feature  of  the 
teaching  of  Confucius  does  not  seem  to  be  accidental. 
He  not  only  shared  the  national  repugnance  to  anything 
metaphysical,  but  seems  to  have  greatly  shrunk  from  any 
specific  utterances  with  regard  to  supernatural  subjects. 
Hence  when  he  was  led  to  speak  of  the  power  greater 
than  himself  of  which  he  was  abundantly,  if  vaguely,  con- 
scious, he  usually  spoke  of  "  Heaven,"  not  of  "  Shang-ti." 


86  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

He  believed  that  he  was  a  teacher  raised  up  by 
Heaven.  "  Alas  !  "  he  said,  "  there  is  no  one  that  knows 
me."  On  being  asked  why  he  said  so,  he  added,  "  I  do 
not  murmur  against  Heaven.  I  do  not  grumble  against 
men.  My  studies  lie  low,  and  my  penetration  rises  high. 
But  there  is  Heaven — that  knows  me  !  "  Again,  when 
threatened  with  death  by  a  high  officer  named  Hwan 
Puy,  he  said,  "  Heaven  produced  the  virtue  that  is  in 
me.  What  can  Hwan  T'uy  do  to  me  ?  "  He  was  once 
seized  and  imprisoned  for  several  days,  and  then  said  to 
those  about  him,  "  After  the  death  of  King  Wan  "  (one  of 
the  ancient  sages)  "  was  not  the  cause  of  truth  lodged  in 
me?  If  Heaven  had  wished  to  let  this  cause  of  truth 
perish,  then  I,  a  future  mortal,  should  not  have  got  such 
a  relation  to  that  cause.  While  Heaven  does  not  let  the 
cause  of  truth  perish,  what  can  the  people  of  K'wang  do 
to  me  ?  " 

From  utterances  like  these  it  would  appear  that 
Confucius  was  not  without  reverence,  but  he  had  not 
the  support  of  a  clear  and  active  faith  in  a  personal  God. 
As  we  shall  shortly  see,  some  excuse  may  be  made  for 
his  attitude  towards  the  whole  subject  of  the  supernatural. 
We  read  in  the  record  of  his  conversations,  "  The  subjects 
on  which  the  Master  did  not  talk  were — prodigies,  feats 
of  strength,  disorder,  and  spiritual  beings."  The  explana- 
tion of  this  dislike  is  no  doubt  partly  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  his  time  saw  the  rise  of  two  great  systems  of 
superstition  which  led  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Buddhist 
and  Taoist  religions.  These  baseless  fancies,  and  the 
empty  legends  with  which  they  were  associated,  were 
rightly  repugnant  to  a  sagacious  mind  like  that  of 
Confucius,  and  he  did  well  to  set  his  face  against  the 
rising  tide  of  superstition.  But  whether  he  exhausted 
his  duty  in  meeting  a  crisis  in  the  religious  history  of 
his  people  by  attempting  or  affecting  to  ignore  it,  is  open 
to    grave    doubt.      He    refused    to    speak    of   what    was 


CONFUCIANISM  87 

supernatural,  and  thereby  dissociated  himself  from  many- 
false  teachers  of  his  day.  But  he  also  failed  to  meet  the 
need,  deep-seated  in  the  heart  of  all  races,  for  some 
definite  teaching  on  the  deepest  questions,  on  which 
men's  hearts  may  rest.  If  Confucius  would  not  speak 
of  supernatural  beings,  other  teachers  would,  and  his 
silence  did  not  prevent  the  rapid  growth  and  wide  spread 
of  the  superstitions  he  so  much  disliked.  It  is  still  more 
to  be  regretted  that  in  refusing  to  speak  of  the  super- 
natural he  seems  also  to  have  turned  away  his  thoughts 
from  the  profoundest  questions  which  every  religious 
teacher  must  face,  and  to  have  weakened  for  himself  and 
for  his  people  that  thought  of  the  one  personal  God 
which  was  the  grandest  possession  of  their  great  ancestors. 
The  whole  sphere  of  supernatural  religion,  once  ignored 
by  Confucius  and  the  greatest  of  his  immediate  followers, 
ceased  for  ever  to  be  the  supreme  interest  of  the  later 
generations  of  Chinese  thinkers. 

Confucius  himself  did  not  profess  originality.  He 
claimed  to  be  a  humble  and  studious  follower  of  the 
ancients,  and  the  painstaking  transmitter  of  their  teaching 
and  example,  but  he  did  not  regard  it  as  within  his 
province  either  to  originate  new  ideas  or  to  widen  the 
scope  of  the  old.  He  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  one  of 
the  greatest  men  in  all  history.  He  is  represented  as 
moulding  to  his  likeness  the  innumerable  millions  of 
successive  generations  of  Chinese.  Certainly  his  word 
has  been  law  throughout  China  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years,  and  his  popular  designation  is  "  the 
Uncrowned  King."  To  this  day  no  Chinaman  thinks 
it  possible  to  set  aside  as  wrong  any  saying  of  Confucius. 
Even  intelligent  Christians  often  speak  as  if  the  Chinese 
had  erred  only  by  departing  from  the  teaching  of 
Confucius,  and  on  the  other  hand  speak  of  his  teaching 
as  erring  only  by  defect — a  defect  which  can  be  made 
good  by  superadding   Christian   teaching.      They  find   it 


88  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

hard  to  admit  to  themselves  that  on  any  point  Confucius 
himself  can  have  been  actually  in  the  wrong.  Now  it  is 
undoubtedly  an  amazing  thing  to  find  an  ancient  teacher 
and  a  mighty  people  two  thousand  years  after  his  time  in 
such  complete  accord,  but  I  cannot  feel  sure  that  it 
justifies  the  inference  often  drawn  from  it  that  Confucius 
was  a  supremely  great  man,  for  there  are  two  possible 
explanations  of  the  fact.  It  is  too  readily  assumed  that 
Confucius  has  moulded  the  people  to  his  own  image. 
The  truth  may  be  that  he  was  born  a  representative 
Chinaman,  moulded  by  the  generations  who  had  gone 
before  him,  and  that  he  gave  expression  once  for  all,  and 
undoubtedly  on  a  great  scale,  to  the  national  temperament 
of  his  people. 

He  certainly  did  not  impress  upon  his  race  character- 
istics originally  alien  to  them.  He  was  himself  in  all 
respects  a  typical  Chinaman.  His  dislike  for  the  meta- 
physical, his  practical  bent,  and  especially  his  firm  belief 
in  precedent  as  the  fundamental  law  of  life,  were  all 
features  in  which  he  reflected  the  characteristics  of  his 
race.  In  his  own  teaching  he  enormously  exaggerated 
the  influence  which  may  be  wielded  by  a  single  man, 
and  one  is  inclined  to  give  a  wider  interpretation  than 
his  own  to  his  statement,  that  he  was  not  a  maker  but 
only  a  transmitter. 

Apart  from  the  State  religion  and  ancestral  worship, 
the  influence  of  Confucius  is  in  no  way  connected  with 
acts  of  worship.  He  is  a  great  moral  teacher,  and  might 
therefore  be  regarded  as  a  religious  influence,  were  it  not 
for  the  fact,  which  is  only  too  evident,  that  morals  and 
religion  are  widely  separated  in  China.  It  is  rather  as  a 
philosopher  than  as  a  religious  teacher  that  Confucius  is 
looked  to  as  an  ethical  authority.  Indeed,  one  might  say 
that  the  main  outcome  of  Confucian  ethics  is  hostile  to 
the  practice  of  religious  worship.  His  leading  doctrine 
seems   to  be  the   self-sufficiency  of  man.      Man  is  born 


CONFUCIANISM  89 

with  a  sufficient  moral  nature,  with  implanted  instincts 
and  sanctions,  to  which  if  he  will  but  give  heed  he  must 
needs  act  rightly.  This  moral  law  within  is  no  doubt 
reinforced  by  the  example  of  ancient  sages  and  the 
writings  of  their  disciples.  Humility  finds  a  place  in  the 
system,  and  Confucius  repeatedly  confesses,  with  manifest 
\  sincerity,  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  attain  his  ideals. 
But  the  idea  of  sin,  in  a  sense  corresponding  in  any  way 
to  the  Christian  conception,  is  wholly  wanting.  The 
wicked  man  is  the  man  who  perversely  rejects  moral 
teaching,  and  does  violence  to  his  own  nature.  There  is 
no  adequate  recognition  of  the  subtle  power  of  temptation, 
or  of  the  dark  possibilities  of  yielding  to  evil.  Confucius 
therefore  has  no  contribution  to  make  to  the  profounder 
departments  of  religious  discussion.  But  he  has  laid 
broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  a  moral  scheme  whose 
main  outline  is  rightly  drawn  ;  and  he  has  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  his  countrymen  a  moral  standard  to  which,  on 
many  of  the  great  essentials  of  ethical  teaching,  we  can 
confidently  appeal.  Important  elements  of  the  moral  law 
are  left  out  of  the  scheme.  The  parts  are  not  always 
well  proportioned,  and  are  not  stated  in  their  due  relations 
and  subordination  to  each  other.  But  on  the  broad 
questions  of  right  and  wrong,  as  between  man  and  man, 
his  decisions  and  standards  are  usually  sound. 

Perhaps  the  broadest  criticism  to  be  made  on  the 
Confucian  scheme  is  that  it  regards  man  too  much  as  a 
member  of  a  community,  or  rather  of  a  state,  and  too 
little  in  his  capacity  as  an  individual.  Hence  moderation, 
and  the  due  observance  of  a  man's  limits,  form  the  main 
elements  of  virtue.  There  are  five  relationships  which 
are  described  as  summing  up  the  whole  duty  of  man. 
They  are  those  between  sovereign  and  subject,  between 
father  and  son,  between  elder  brother  and  younger  brother, 
between  husband  and  wife,  and  between  friend  and  friend. 
The  first  two  of  these  may  be  regarded  as  substantially 


90  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

one.  The  sovereign  is  looked  upon  as  the  father  of  his 
people,  and  filial  piety  is  the  foundation  of  Confucian 
morals.  Both  in  the  classical  books  and  in  the  popular 
literature  there  are  many  striking  sayings  which  enforce 
the  duty  of  filial  piety.  But  whilst  the  duty  of  children 
to  their  parents  is  constantly  insisted  upon,  there  is  almost 
no  corresponding  treatment  of  the  duty  of  parents  to  their 
children.  In  the  practical  development  of  the  subject  it 
is  carried  to  great  extremes,  some  of  which  are  not  a  little 
ridiculous,  while  some  are  morally  disastrous.  One  im- 
portant outcome  of  this  theory  of  filial  piety  is  the  at- 
tribution by  law  of  absolute  power  to  a  father  over  his 
son  throughout  life,  including  even  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  For  a  father  to  slay  his  son  is  an  exercise  of 
paternal  authority  with  which  the  law  has  no  right  to 
concern  itself.  But  if  a  son  slay  his  father,  no  matter 
with  what  extenuating  circumstances,  not  only  is  the 
matter  regarded  as  a  crime  of  the  deepest  dye,  but  it  is 
visited  with  death  by  the  cruellest  tortures,  and  the  whole 
neighbourhood  is  involved  in  the  disgrace  and  punish- 
ment of  the  crime.  The  parricide's  teacher  shares  in  his 
punishment ;  the  magistrate  in  whose  district  the  crime  is 
committed  is  dismissed  from  office,  and  everything  is 
done  to  impress  the  popular  mind  with  detestation  of  the 
crime.  A  painful  illustration  of  this  view  occurred  lately 
near  Shanghai.  A  little  child  at  play  in  its  own  home 
while  swinging  a  piece  of  wood  accidently  struck  his 
mother,  and  she,  being  in  weak  health,  shortly  afterwards 
died.  The  child  was  regarded  as  too  young  for  the 
immediate  infliction  of  the  full  penalty,  and  was  therefore 
doomed  to  grow  up  under  sentence,  the  sentence  to  be 
fully  carried  out  when  it  reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years, 
although  there  was  not  the  smallest  suspicion  of  any 
intention  on  the  child's  part  to  injure  its  mother.  One 
of  the  favourite  disciples  of  Confucius  is  praised  for  giving 
a  striking  example  of  filial  piety.      His  filial  piety  showed 


CONFUCIANISM  91 

itself  in  this,  that  he  divorced  his  wife  because  in  stewing 
pears  for  his  mother  she  did  not  cook  them  to  the  old 
lady's  liking.  Another  testimony  to  the  same  exaggera- 
tion of  the  idea  of  filial  piety  is  to  be  seen  in  almost  every 
considerable  town  in  the  Empire.  The  streets  and  road- 
ways are  often  spanned  by  elaborate  memorial  archways 
with  flattering  inscriptions  in  memory  of  women  who  have 
left  an  example  of  filial  piety.  Their  husbands  had  died, 
and  they  had  showed  their  piety  to  the  parents  by  refusing 
to  marry  again.  Their  virtue  was  not  regarded  as  con- 
sisting in  showing  honour  to  the  husband's  memory,  but 
in  refusing  to  leave  the  home  of  his  parents  and  enter 
another  family.  But  a  lamentable  feature  of  these 
memorials  is  this,  that  in  many  cases  the  widow  showed 
her  devotion  to  her  husband's  parents  not  only  by  re- 
fusing marriage  into  another  family,  but  by  also  commit- 
ting suicide  lest  she  should  become  a  burden  to  them. 
When  we  speak  therefore  of  filial  piety  as  one  of  the  root 
virtues  of  Chinese  life,  one  must  remember  that  it  has 
been  so  exaggerated  and  perverted  that  it  has  often  lost 
its  character  of  virtue  altogether. 

For  our  present  purpose  the  main  question  with  regard 
to  the  moral  ideas  of  Confucius  is  this  :  What  practical 
effect  have  they  had  on  the  moral  conceptions  and  the 
actual  life  of  the  common  people?  This  question  is  for 
many  reasons  not  easy  to  answer.  A  vast  majority  of 
the  people  have  received  no  such  education  as  would 
qualify  them  to  read  and  understand  the  classical  books 
of  the  Confucian  school.  Their  knowledge  of  the  teaching 
of  Confucius  is  fragmentary  and  vague.  It  is  derived 
chiefly  from  isolated  sayings  which  have  become  popular 
proverbs,  and  are  so  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation.  They  pass  from  mouth  to  mouth  as  quota- 
tions appropriate  to  the  incidents  of  life,  and  are  often 
used  with  no  reference  to  the  context  from  which  they 
were  originally  drawn. 


92  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

The  enormous  weight  attributed  to  the  authority  of 
Confucius  has  done  something  to  lessen  the  sense  of 
individual  moral  responsibility.  A  man's  appeal  on 
moral  questions  is  not  so  much  to  the  voice  of  his  own 
conscience  as  to  the  utterances  and  maxims  of  antiquity. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  principles  of  Confucian  morals  for 
the  most  part  confirm  the  universal  judgments  of  the 
natural  conscience,  and  have  had  on  the  whole  a  healthful 
influence  on  the  moral  life,  and  still  more  on  the  moral 
judgments  of  the  people.  Familiarity  with  the  impressive 
enunciation  of  great  principles  is  too  often,  in  China  as 
elsewhere,  regarded  as  a  sufficient  substitute  for  the  life 
to  which  they  point.  But  this  is  rather  one  of  the  sad 
anomalies  of  our  common  human  nature  than  a  defect 
inherent  in  the  Confucian  teaching.  Yet  it  sharply 
emphasises  the  fact  that  what  China  needs  is  not  so 
much  a  new  set  of  rules  for  living,  as  a  new  and  energis- 
ing spring  of  life. 


LECTURE    IV 

THE    RELIGIONS    OF    CHINA 
Part  II. —  Taoism  and  Buddhism 

Taoism. — Taoism,  like  Confucianism,  is  of  native  origin 
in  the  main,  though  some  writers,  both  native  and  foreign, 
have  tried  to  trace  resemblances  between  Taoist  and 
Buddhist  literature,  which  they  attribute  to  their  having 
drawn  from  common  sources.  It  has  even  been  argued 
that  the  Tao,  or  Way,  and  the  "  Wu-wei,"  or  Inaction,  of 
Taoism  are  simply  the  "  Noble  Path "  and  the  Nirvana 
of  Buddhism  in  another  form.  I  cannot  pursue  this  dis- 
cussion here. 

Like  Confucianism  also,  Taoism  contains  two  systems 
under  one  name.  The  first  is  a  system  of  philosophy  set 
forth  by  the  almost  legendary  founder  of  this  religion, 
and  by  a  few  of  his  better  known  early  followers.  This 
philosophy  is  not  known  to  the  bulk  of  the  Chinese 
people,  and  its  literature  is  not  usually  studied  even  by 
professional  native  scholars.  Having  spoken  of  the 
Taoist  literature  and  philosophy  in  a  previous  lecture,  I 
shall  not  dwell  further  on  them  now. 

But  Taoism  has  another  side,  by  which  it  has  most 
influenced  Chinese  life.  This  consists  of  a  vast  congeries 
of  fables  and  superstitions  of  which  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  give  a  rational  account.  Its  popular  aspects  have 
little  apparent  relation  with  its  philosophic  character. 

Seeking  for  a  link  of  connection,  we  might  find  it 
perhaps  in  the  first  paragraph  of  Lao  Tsze's  great  book 
the    "  Tao    Teh    King,"    or    "  Treatise    on    the  Absolute 

93 


94  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

and  the  Actual."  "  Tao  "  means  a  way  or  road,  and  is 
used  by  Lao  Tsze  to  describe  the  unconditioned  cause  of 
all  things,  while  its  correlate,  "  Teh,"  or  "  Attainment,"  is 
applied  to  the  concrete  embodiments  of  it.  The  Tao  is 
thus  the  "  Nameless,"  or  the  Absolute ;  while  the  Teh  is 
the  "  Named,"  or  the  Actual.  The  treatise  begins  accord- 
ingly thus  : — "  The  Tao  that  can  be  trodden  is  not  the 
enduring  and  unchanging  Tao.  The  name  that  can  be 
named  is  not  the  enduring  and  unchanging  name.  As 
having  no  name  it  is  the  originator  of  heaven  and  earth  ; 
as  having  a  name  it  is  the  mother  of  all  things.  .  .  . 
Under  these  two  aspects  it  is  really  the  same  ;  but  as 
development  takes  place,  it  receives  different  names. 
Together  we  call  them  the  Mystery.  Where  the  mystery 
is  the  deepest  is  the  gate  of  all  that  is  subtle  and 
wonderful." 

These  last  words  strike  the  keynote  of  Taoism,  and 
mark  its  point  of  strongest  contrast  with  Confucianism. 
In  Confucianism  there  is  no  room  for  mystery.  A  clear 
definition,  an  embodied  example,  an  established  precedent, 
an  indisputable  maxim,  an  expressive  propriety — these 
form  the  machinery  of  the  Confucian  ethic.  But  the 
Taoist  writers,  with  a  braver  outlook,  saw  that  "  where 
the  mystery  is  deepest  is  the  gate  of  all  that  is  subtle  and 
wonderful."  It  is  the  lesson  so  often  illustrated  in 
physical  science,  that  where  our  explanations  break  down, 
and  residual  phenomena,  in  thought  or  experience,  occur, 
is  the  place  where  new  and  widening  truth  comes  to  light. 
In  the  recognition  of  this  lesson  lies  at  once  the  strength 
and  the  weakness  of  Taoism.  In  its  strength  it  has  given 
us  the  Taoist  metaphysic,  which  for  freshness,  depth,  and 
thorough-going  idealism,  has  no  Confucian  rival  ;  in  its 
weakness  it  has  produced  the  imbecile  vagaries  of  Taoist 
alchemy,  geomancy,  and  general  hocus-pocus. 

The  Taoist  doctors  early  acquired  the  reputation  of 
deep  knowledge  of  the  powers   of  nature.      Hence  arose 


TAOISM  95 

discussions  about  the  philosopher's  stone,  the  pill  of  im- 
mortality, and  the  elixir  of  life.  Many  legends  arose  of 
sages  and  heroes  who  were  reported  to  have  attained  to 
an  immortal  life,  to  have  visited  the  stars,  or  to  have  at 
their  call  the  services  of  supernatural  beings.  The  worship 
of  these  sages,  and  of  imaginary  beings  who  were  sup- 
posed to  embody  the  powers  of  nature,  rapidly  grew  into 
a  vast  system  of  religious  observances.  The  professors  of 
Taoism  taught  the  art  of  prolonging  life  by  the  regulation 
of  the  breath  and  other  exercises.  They  also  developed 
the  theory  of  good  and  bad  luck  which,  under  the  name 
of  "  Fung-shuy,"  or  "Wind  and  Water,"  teaches  that  the 
fortunes  of  men  are  vitally  connected  with  the  configura- 
tion of  hills,  the  course  of  rivers,  and  very  specially  are 
determined  by  the  contour  of  the  ground  in  sites  for 
dwelling-houses  and  positions  for  graves.  They  professed 
to  communicate  with  the  invisible  world,  and  to  give 
responses  to  enquirers  who  seek  to  pry  into  the  future. 
Hence  spiritualism,  fortune-telling,  geomancy,  and  magic, 
have  all  found  a  congenial  home  and  reached  an  enormous 
development  in  the  hands  of  the  later  Taoists.  It  is  not 
unnaturally  this  superstitious  side  of  Taoism  that  has 
most  largely  affected  the  popular  mind.  There  is  a  re- 
cognised head  of  the  religion  who  is  sometimes  spoken  of 
in  foreign  books  as  the  Taoist  Pope.  His  office  is  heredi- 
tary, and  he  is  recognised  by  the  Imperial  Government  as 
the  head  of  the  whole  Taoist  community. 

It  was  the  first  beginnings  of  this  system  which  per- 
haps caused,  and  to  some  extent  justified,  the  declinature 
of  Confucius  to  speak  on  supernatural  subjects.  His 
countrymen  have  not  imitated  him  in  this  reserve,  and 
while  the  Chinese  classics  confine  themselves  for  the  most 
part  to  what  is  rigidly  practical,  historic  and  ethical,  the 
popular  literature  is  full  of  the  wildest  and  most  luxuriant 
superstition.  Among  the  temples  to  be  found  everywhere 
are  many  of  those  to  Taoist  deities,  such  as  the  god  of 


96  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

wealth,  the  god  of  literature,  the  god  of  war,  besides  the 
shrines  which  are  continually  arising  at  spots  where  any 
alleged  supernatural  manifestation  has  taken  place.  Trees, 
stones,  rivers,  animals,  are  worshipped  indiscriminately, 
and  all  this  unregulated  superstition  may  be  regarded  as 
forming  part  of  the  Taoist  system. 

In  one  sphere  it  links  itself  closely  with  orthodox  Con- 
fucianism ;  that  is  to  say,  in  rites  connected  with  the 
burial  of  the  dead.  In  these,  which  are  largely  regulated 
by  Confucian  tradition,  place  is  found  for  the  teachings 
and  practice  of  Taoism.  It  is  the  Taoist  doctor  who 
chooses  a  lucky  spot  for  a  grave  and  the  lucky  day  for 
burial.  He  studies  the  contour  of  the  ground  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  grave,  advises  the  direction  in  which 
the  body  should  be  laid,  and  suggests  all  the  methods  by 
which  the  survivors  hope  to  bury  the  dead  in  such  a  way 
as  not  only  to  secure  a  peaceful  resting  place  for  them, 
but  also  to  make  the  place  of  their  burial  a  source  of 
good  fortune  and  blessing  to  their  descendants.  On  this 
system  every  Chinese  family  spends  from  time  to  time  a 
large  portion  of  its  means,  and  I  have  been  assured  that 
in  the  Swatow  district  seven  or  eight-tenths  of  all  the  law 
suits  that  come  before  the  courts  arise  out  of  disputes 
about  graves  and  grave  sites.  The  Taoist  theory  of 
securing  the  repose  of  the  dead  and  the  felicity  of  sur- 
vivors seems  to  lead  to  more  disturbance  of  the  peace  of 
the  living  than  all  other  causes  put  together. 

Taoism,  like  Buddhism,  possesses  a  popular  religious 
literature,  one  department  of  which  is  devoted  to  morals 
and  conduct.  But  a  curious  feature  of  these  books  is 
that  their  ethical  principles,  rules  of  conduct  and  grounds 
of  appeal,  and  even  their  technical  phraseology,  are  drawn 
in  varying  proportions  from  all  three  of  the  popular  re- 
ligions. I  have  showed  one  of  these  tracts  to  a  Confucian 
scholar,  asking  him  to  which  of  the  religions  it  belonged. 
At   a  hasty  glance   his   eye  caught  some   of  the  moral 


TAOISM 


97 


maxims,  and  he  replied,  "  This  is  Confucian."  Reading 
further  he  presently  said,  "  This  is  Buddhist."  Finally  I 
showed  him  from  the  preface  that  the  book  professes  to 
be  the  work  of  Lu  Yen,  a  famous  Taoist  doctor,  born 
about  75  5  B.C.,  who  is  said  to  have  flourished  as  a  hero 
and  dragon  slayer  for  over  four  hundred  years,  and  who 
has  been  worshipped  since  the  twelfth  century. 

In  this  work  human  actions  in  the  various  relations  of 
life  are  classified,  and  to  every  action,  good  or  evil,  a 
numerical  value  of  merit  or  demerit  is  attached,  in  a  care- 
fully regulated  scale  of  which  an  exact  account  can  be 
kept.  Blank  pages,  or  forms  of  account,  are  inserted, 
with  a  space  for  every  day  in  a  month,  in  which  are  to  be 
entered  the  sums  of  merits  acquired  and  demerits  incurred 
on  each  day.  At  the  end  of  the. month  a  balance  is  to  be 
struck,  and  the  merits  and  demerits  severally  are  to  be 
added  up,  and  the  resultant  balance  noted,  and  carried 
forward  to  the  next  month's  account.  The  morality 
described  in  this  analysis  is  often  of  a  high  order,  but  it 
often  degenerates  into  a  bare  ceremonialism  of  no  moral 
value.  One  principle  is  recognised  throughout  which 
implies  real  moral  insight.  When  a  good  deed  is  set 
down  at  a  certain  positive  value,  it  is  not  to  be  assumed 
that  the  corresponding  evil  may  be  estimated  on  the 
negative  side  at  the  same  amount.  Its  value  is  not  only 
negative,  but  is  sometimes  treble,  sometimes  tenfold  in 
amount.  In  one  case  it  is  estimated  as  infinitely  greater, 
outweighing  the  corresponding  good  deed.  We  feel  a 
touch  of  brotherhood  in  this  recognition  of  the  disadvan- 
tage at  which  we  wage  our  ethical  warfare  : — 

"  Facilis  descensus  Averno  ; 
Noctes  atque  dies  patet  atri  janua  Ditis  : 
Sed  revocare  gradum,  superasque  evadere  ad  auras, 
Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est.  Pauci,  quos  aequus  amavit 
Jupiter,  aut  ardens  evexit  ad  aethera  virtus, 
Dis  geniti,  potuere." 


98  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

The  following  are  a  few  examples  of  this  scale  : — 

"For  exhorting  Parents  to  abandon\ In  small  matters,  i  good  mark. 

evil,  and  practise  what  is  good  : — /in  greater      „      3     „    marks.  - 
For  seeing  the  faults  of  Parents,  and\In  small  matters,  10  bad  marks. 

being  unable  to  exhort  them  : —     Jin  greater       „      30     „   marks. 
For  showing  warm  love  to  wife  and^ 

children,    and    making    light    of  1 100  bad  marks. 

Father  and  Mother  :--  J 

For  forbidding  wife  and  daughters  tol  ^  ^.  ,         , 

J    ,      ,  °   .        ^  ,  }- Per  month,  50  good  marks, 

gad  about  seemg  stage-plays  : —     J  >  j    o 

For  allowing  wife  and  daughters  to  go|j.^^j^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^^„ 

to  the  temples  and  burn  mcense  : — j 

It  is  curious  to  notice  in  these  last  two  instances  that 
the  acts  which  are  thus  condemned  as  immoral,  are  at  the 
same  time  highly  religious,  the  stage-plays  being  usually 
performed  in  honour  of  the  idols. 

"For  being  proud   towards    equals  1  _     ,     .  ,     ,         , 

.   ,      °  /       ,  ^         >Each  time,  5  bad  marks, 

and  despismg  the  poor  : —  j 

For  arranging  a  marriage,         .         .    50  good  marks. 

For  abstaining  for  life  from  beef  and)  ,         , 

dog-flesh,  per  annum  : —  /■'  ^ 

For   successfully  exhorting    against'i  ,         , 

infanticide  (female) :—  j3    g 

Forpickingup  things  lost  and  restor-^ Per  value  of  100  cash,  2  good 

ing  to  owner  : —  /     marks. 

For  picking  up  things  lost  and  keep-\Per  value  of  100  cash,  3  bad 

ing  them  :—  J      marks. 

For  writing  obscene  books,  or  draw-^ 

ing  obscene  pictures,  to  the  injury  1-Unlimited  bad  marks." 

of  the  world  : —  ^ 

In  this  singular  book  the  precepts  of  Confucian  ethics 
are  enforced  by  the  sanctions  of  Buddhist  superstition, 
and  regulated  by  a  Taoist  method.  It  is  a  type  of 
Chinese  popular  religion,  with  its  strange  commingling 
of  streams  drawn  from  many  remote  sources,  but  har- 
monised by  the  colouring  which  all  have  drawn  from  the 
native  soil. 

We  now   come    to   Buddhism,  the  third   of   the  three 


BUDDHISM 


99 


popular  religions  of  China.  In  Confucianism  and  Taoism 
we  saw  that  there  was  a  philosophical  side  to  each  of 
these  systems,  and  also  a  popular  side,  and  that  the  con- 
nection, and  sometimes  the  antagonisms,  between  these 
two  aspects  complicate  not  a  little  the  religious  problem. 
In  Buddhism  the  problem  becomes  more  complex  still, 
as  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  give  a  clear  account  of 
Chinese  Buddhism  which  shall  convey,  at  the  same  time, 
a  fair  impression  of  the  real  place  occupied  by  it  in  the 
religious  life  of  the  people. 

We  find  in  it  in  an  extreme  degree  a  difficulty  which 
is  perhaps  little  understood  by  Christian  writers  on  non- 
Christian  religions.  The  difficulty  is  that  in  these  so- 
called  ethnic  religions  the  whole  attitude  of  mind,  both  of 
teachers  and  of  taught,  is  extremely  remote  from  our  own. 
We  find  Christianity  to  be  essentially  a  historical  religion  ; 
and  whilst  there  is  much  detail  in  the  history  which  does 
not  seem  to  have  any  profoundly  religious  significance, 
yet  we  cannot  dissociate  the  religion  from  the  history. 
Indeed,  we  feel  it  to  be  vital  to  our  hold  of  the  religion 
to  vindicate  the  history  and  to  demonstrate  its  reality 
and  genuineness.  The  historical  facts  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  historical  facts  of  the  life,  death,  and  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  Christ  are  essential  to  our  conception  of 
the  Christian  religion.  We  feel  strongly  the  need  for 
principles  which  can  be  firmly  grasped,  which  are  con- 
sistently knit  together,  which  root  themselves  in  the 
history,  and  which  justify  themselves  in  their  practical 
development  in  our  actual  religious  experience.  Now, 
this  attitude  of  mind,  which  seems  to  us  so  essential,  is 
entirely  unlike  anything  that  we  meet  with  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ethnic  religions  of  the  East.  They  feel  no 
need  either  of  definite  history  or  of  firmly  grasped  prin- 
ciples. They  are  the  outcome  of  instincts,  longings,  or 
repulsions,  and  often  of  fancies,  each  of  which  is  yielded 
to  or  opposed  according  to  the  humour  of  the  moment. 


100  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

They  do  not  rest,  and  are  not  even  supposed  to  rest, 
upon  definite  facts.  No  effort  is  made  to  bring  them  into 
a  harmonious  and  self-supporting  system.  They  do  not 
represent  definite  mental  processes  or  philosophic  con- 
clusions arrived  at  by  logical  arguments.  They  are  rather 
like  the  exercise  of  a  child's  mind,  which  delights  in  imagin- 
ing things  for  the  sake  of  the  effort  of  imagination  itself. 
The  fancies  and  thoughts  that  rise  are  welcomed  as  fresh 
material  for  experiment  in  thinking.  Their  value  does  not 
depend  upon  their  validity,  but  rather  on  their  fruitfulness 
of  suggestion.  Hence  the  fantastic  waywardness  which 
characterises  many  of  the  religious  speculations  of  the 
East.  It  is  therefore  hardly  possible  for  us,  with  our 
Western  methods  of  thought,  and  with  the  regard  for 
truth  and  reality  which  Christianity  has  implanted,  or  at 
least  has  cultivated,  in  the  Western  mind,  to  put  before 
ourselves  in  their  real  relations  the  various  parts  of  a 
system  such  as  Buddhism.  It  is  still  more  difficult  for  us 
to  appreciate  the  atmosphere  in  which  it  has  become  what 
it  is,  and  the  colouring  which  it  wears  to  an  oriental  mind. 

In  speaking  of  Confucianism  and  Taoism  we  had  to 
deal  with  systems  based  upon  a  substantial  and  interest- 
ing literature.  Buddhism  in  its  later  developments  has 
produced  an  enormous  literature  ;  but  during  the  early 
ages  of  Buddhist  teaching  in  India,  writing  was  an  art 
but  little  known.  We  have  therefore  to  deal  with  ideas 
which  were  not  at  first  written  down  in  permanent  form. 
They  were  delivered  orally,  and  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  so  that  it  is  difficult  now  to  ascertain  what  their 
earliest  forms  were. 

Buddhism  took  its  rise,  as  you  know,  in  Northern  India, 
and  its  early  history  belongs  rather  to  India  than  to  China. 
It  is  not  needful,  and  would  hardly  be  relevant,  to  repeat 
here  in  detail  the  story  of  Gautama,  but  it  cannot  be 
wholly  omitted.  Everyone  has  read  how  the  prince 
Gautama,  or  Siddharta,  son  of  a  king  in  Nepal,  was  born 


BUDDHISM 


lOI 


about  the  year  620  B.C.,"^  and  grew  up  in  happy  ignorance 
of  the  suffering  and  death  that  reign  in  the  world. 
Anxious  to  keep  him  from  all  knowledge  of  pain  and 
sorrow,  his  father  kept  him  carefully  secluded  in  a  beauti- 
ful garden,  whose  high  walls  formed  for  him  the  boundary 
of  the  world.  These  precautions  naturally  kindled  in 
the  boy's  mind  a  desire  to  know  what  lay  beyond.  After 
careful  prearrangement  the  prince  was  allowed  to  drive 
out  through  the  gardens  and  streets  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  palace,  but  notwithstanding  all  precautions  he  saw 
sights  which  changed  the  whole  current  of  his  life.  I 
will  read  the  brief  summary  of  these  given  by  Sir  Monier 
Williams  in  his  book  on  Buddhism.  "  There  appeared 
before  his  eyes  in  one  of  the  streets  the  form  of  a  decrepit 
old  man,  his  skin  shrivelled,  his  head  bald,  his  teeth  gone, 
his  body  infirm  and  bent.  A  staff  supported  his  totter- 
ing limbs,  as  he  stood  right  across  the  path  of  the  prince's 
advancing  chariot. 

"  Seeing  this  aged  person,  Siddharta  inquired  of  his 
charioteer  :  *  What  human  form  is  this,  so  miserable  and  so 
distressing,  the  like  of  which  I  have  never  seen  before  ? ' 

"  The  charioteer  replied : '  This  is  what  is  called  an  old  man.' 

"  The  prince  again  inquired  :  '  And  what  is  the  exact 
meaning  of  this  expression  "  old  "  ?  ' 

"  The  charioteer  answered  :  '  Old  age  implies  the  loss  of 
bodily  power,  decay  of  the  vital  functions,  and  failure  of 
mind  and  memory.  This  poor  man  before  you  is  old 
and  approaching  his  end.' 

"  Then  asked  the  prince  :  '  Is  this  law  universal  ?  * 

" '  Yes,'  he  replied,  '  this  is  the  common  lot  of  all  living 
creatures.      All  that  is  born  must  die.' 

"  Soon  afterwards  another  strange  sight  presented  itself 
— a  sick   man,  worn  by  disease  and  suffering,  pale  and 
miserable,    scarcely   able    to   draw   his   breath,  was   seen 
tottering  on  the  road. 
*  Or  500  B.C.  by  another  reckoning  j  but  the  date  is  quite  uncertain. 


102  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

"  Then  the  prince  inquired  of  his  charioteer :  *  Who  is 
this  unhappy  being?' 

"  The  charioteer  replied  :  *  This  is  a  sick  man,  and  such 
sickness  is  common  to  all' 

"  Soon  afterwards  there  passed  before  them  a  corpse, 
borne  on  a  bier. 

"  Then  asked  the  prince :  *  Who  is  this  borne  onwards 
on  his  bed,  covered  with  strangely-coloured  garments, 
surrounded   by   people  weeping   and   lamenting  ? ' 

" '  This,'  replied  the  charioteer,  '  is  called  a  dead  body  ; 
he  has  ended  his  life  ;  he  has  no  further  beauty  of  form, 
and  no  desires  of  any  kind  ;  he  is  one  with  the  stones 
and  the  felled  tree  ;  he  is  like  a  ruined  wall  or  fallen 
leaf;  no  more  shall  he  see  his  father  or  mother,  brother 
or  sister,  or  other  relatives  ;  his  body  is  dead,  and  your 
body  also  must  come  to  this.' 

"  Next  day  on  his  going  out  by  a  different  gate  there 
appeared  advancing  with  measured  steps  a  man  with  a 
shaven  crown  and  monk's  robe,  his  right  shoulder  bare,  a 
religious  staff  in  his  right  hand,  and  a  mendicant's  alms- 
bowl  in  his  left.  '  Who  is  this,'  the  prince  inquired, 
*  proceeding  with  slow  and  dignified  steps,  looking  neither 
to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the  left,  absorbed  in  thought,  with 
shaven  head  and  garments  of  reddish  colour  ? ' 

" '  This  man,'  said  the  charioteer,  '  devotes  himself  to 
charity,  and  restrains  his  appetites  and  his  bodily  desires. 
He  hurts  nobody,  but  does  good  to  all,  and  is  full  of 
sympathy   for  all.' 

"  Then  the  prince  asked  the  man  himself  to  give  an 
account  of  his  own  condition. 

"  He  answered  :  '  I  am  called  a  homeless  ascetic  ;  I 
have  forsaken  the  world,  relatives  and  friends  ;  I  seek 
deliverance  for  myself  and  desire  the  salvation  of  all 
creatures,  and  I  do  harm  to  none.' 

"  After  hearing  these  words  the  prince  went  to  his  father 
and  said,  '  I  wish  to  become  a  wandering  ascetic,  and  to 


BUDDHISM  103 

seek  Nirvana  ;  all  worldly  things,  O  king,  are  changeable 
and  transitory.' " 

The  heart  of  the  young  prince  was  filled  with  disgust 
at  the  pleasures  with  which  he  was  surrounded,  and  with  a 
longing  to  break  away  from  them,  to  go  out  and  become 
the  saviour  of  suffering  humanity.  Leaving  his  palace  by 
night,  he  became  a  wandering  thinker  and  enquirer, 
burdened  with  an  overwhelming  desire  to  find  a  way  of 
escape  from  the  common  doom  of  sorrow.  The  Buddhist 
legends  narrate  in  great  detail  the  experiences  through 
which  he  passed.  At  length,  after  long  thought  and  endur- 
ing endless  temptation,  he  found  his  way  to  the  light.  It  is 
not  pretended  that  the  light  was  a  divine  revelation  given  to 
him  from  without.  It  is  always  represented  as  an  illumina- 
tion from  within,  the  result  of  his  own  thinking  and  self- 
conquest.  It  was  at  this  point  in  his  career  that  Siddharta 
or  Gautama  became  entitled  to  the  name  "  Buddha,"  a 
name  which  signifies  "  the  intelligent  "  or  "  the  enlightened." 

At  this  stage  of  the  development  of  Buddhism  occurs 
one  of  the  most  striking  and  also  one  of  the  most  credit- 
able of  its  many  inconsistencies.  Strictly  speaking,  the 
fundamental  principle  to  which  Gautama  had  worked  his 
way  would  have  required  him  to  cease  from  this  point  all 
effort  and  all  intercourse  with  men  ;  but  having  attained, 
as  he  believed,  the  light  for  himself,  he  was  anxious  to 
impart  it  to  others  and  devote  himself  to  a  life  of  toil  for 
the  illumination  and  deliverance  of  his  fellowmen.  Thus 
Buddhism  became  from  the  first  an  essentially  missionary 
religion.  But  it  won  its  way,  not  like  Muhammadanism 
by  the  sword,  but  by  patient  and  persuasive  teaching. 
Gautama  the  Buddha  went  to  Benares,  and  began  there 
to  teach  his  followers.  The  outlines  of  his  early  teaching 
are  briefly  summarised  in  what  are  called  the  four  noble 
truths.      These  are — 

I.  That  all  existence  necessarily  involves  pain  and 
suffering,  and  is  therefore  essentially  evil. 


104  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

2.  That  all  suffering  is  caused  by  desire,  whether  of 
sensual  pleasure,  of  wealth,  or  of  continued  existence. 

3.  That  on  the  other  hand  cessation  of  suffering  is 
simultaneous  with  the  extinction  of  desire. 

4.  That  extinction  of  desire,  and  therefore  freedom 
from  all  suffering,  is  attained  by  perseverance  in  right 
belief,  right  resolve,  right  speech,  right  work,  right  liveli- 
hood, right  exercise,  rightmindedness,  and  right  mental 
concentration. 

This  is  described  as  the  eightfold  path. 

His  teaching  was  speedily  accepted  by  some  sixty 
disciples  whom  he  sent  forth  to  spread  it.  This  teaching 
had  been  at  first  a  revolt  against  Brahmanism,  and  is  to 
a  considerable  extent  conditioned  by  the  Brahmanistic 
teaching  which  preceded  it.  After  attaining  wide 
popularity  in  India  it  has  now,  since  about  the  fifth 
century,  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  it.  The  home 
of  Buddhism  is  now  in  Ceylon,  Burmah,  Siam,  China, 
Thibet  and  Japan.  Having  in  the  lapse  of  so  long  a 
period  of  time  passed  into  the  hands  of  so  many  different 
nationalities.  Buddhism  has  of  course  assumed  many 
varieties  of  form,  and  can  hardly  be  spoken  of  as  a 
consistent  whole.  From  the  first  it  has  contained 
elements  which  are  in  themselves  inconsistent  with  each 
other.  Again,  its  earlier  and  its  later  teaching  are  widely 
different.  In  passing  into  China,  Indian  beliefs  and 
legends  have  been  transformed  into  Chinese  forms.  For 
example,  one  of  the  chief  personalities  of  Indian  Buddhism 
is  Avalokiteshwara,  who  is  spoken  of  in  Indian  tradition 
as  a  son  of  Amita-Buddha,  who  is  the  celestial  counter- 
part of  the  deified  man,  Gautama  Buddha.  In  passing 
from  Indian  into  Chinese  mythology,  this  deity  is  trans- 
formed into  a  goddess  with  various  titles,  such  as  the 
"  Merciful  One,"  or  "  Kwan-shi-yin,"  that  is,  the  "  Hearer 
of  Prayer."  Chinese  tradition  makes  her  a  native  god- 
dess, describing  her  as  the  daughter  of  Chwang  Wang,  a 


Mission  Problems  ^^.^^  ^04 

Buddha  in  Japan:    "Daibutsu" 


BUDDHISM  io5 

sovereign  of  China  in  696  B.C.  To  the  Western  mind 
this  identification  labours  under  the  serious  disadvantage 
of  placing  her  date  considerably  before  the  birth  of 
Gautama  Buddha  himself  But,  as  I  have  explained,  the 
fear  of  historical  inconsistency  is  never  allowed  to  restrict 
either  speculation  or  affirmation  in  the  development  of 
Buddhism. 

Buddhism  must  always  be  regarded  as  an  outcome  of 
the  popular  Brahmanism,  which  was  the  prevailing  religion 
of  ancient  India.  Gautama  the  Buddha  carried  with 
him  some  of  the  teachings  of  Brahmanism,  and  giving 
these  new  forms,  and  rejecting  others,  he  fashioned  out 
of  them  the  fundamental  ideas  of  his  own  system.  His 
leading  desire  was,  first  of  all,  escape  for  himself  from  the 
misery  of  the  world,  and  next,  as  an  outcome  of  this,  to 
work  out  a  salvation  for  other  men.  Brahmanism  had 
taught  that  there  were  three  ways  of  salvation — 

1.  By  the  use  of  sacrifices,  rites  and  penances. 

2.  By  devotion  of  heart  to  particular  deities. 

3.  What  was  called  the  way  of  knowledge,  which 
seems  by  common  consent  to  have  been  regarded  as  the 
highest  of  the  three. 

This  was  the  starting  point  of  Gautama's  teaching. 
Rejecting  the  first  two  as  unworthy,  he  taught  that  the 
way  of  escape  from  the  miseries  of  existence  lay  in 
knowledge  ;  but  the  knowledge  spoken  of  is  of  a  special 
and  limited  kind.  It  does  not  include  the  knowledge  of 
God,  and  scarcely  implies  the  knowledge  of  oneself  which 
has  sometimes  by  other  teachers  been  made  the  basis  of 
morality.  It  is  rather  knowledge  regarded  as  an  awaken- 
ing from  habitual  and  universal  illusion.  He  taught  that 
men  suffer  from  the  illusion  of  personality,  that  is,  of 
attaching  undue  importance  to  their  own  individual 
conscious  existence.  An  inevitable  result  of  this  illusion 
is  the  natural  clinging  to  life,  which  produces  inborn  desire 
for  all  those   things  which  apparently  contribute  to  the 


io6  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

maintenance  and  the  pleasure  of  life.  The  essential 
knowledge  of  which  the  Buddha  offered  himself  as 
teacher,  consists  in  the  discovery  that  all  these  ideas 
to  which  men  so  obstinately  cling  are  delusive.  Salvation 
depends  upon  the  knowledge  that  existence  is  itself  the 
source  and  cause  of  all  our  evils,  and  that  deliverance  is 
to  be  found  not  in  the  way  of  improving  the  conditions 
of  existence,  but  in  persistently  following  a  course  which 
will  ultimately  lead  to  its  extinction.  Hence,  renunciation 
in  all  its  forms  becomes  the  vital  essence  of  the  religious 
life.  But  renunciation  is  not  thought  of  as  a  self-discipline 
by  which  the  individual  soul  is  to  be  improved  and  trained 
for  better  things.  It  is  rather  thought  of  as  a  method  by 
which  individuality  may  be  gradually  extinguished. 

The  doctrine  of  transmigration  thus  lies  very  near  the 
roots  of  Buddhism,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  speak,  as  is  often 
done,  of  the  transmigration  of  souls.  Strictly  speaking, 
Buddhism  denies  the  real  existence  of  the  individual  soul, 
or  admits  it  only  as  one  of  the  transitory  evils  from  which 
we  must  make  it  our  aim  to  be  delivered.  There  is  really 
no  room  for  the  existence  of  the  individual  soul,  and  neither 
is  there  room  for  the  existence  of  God,  in  the  Buddhistic 
conception  of  the  universe.  Existence  is  represented  as 
confined  to  six  forms  of  lower  and  higher  degrees,  all  of 
them  inferior  to  the  ultimate  aim,  which  is  that  of  non- 
existence. The  forms  of  living  beings  are  these — ( i )  gods ; 
(2)  men  ;  (3)  demons  ;  (4)  animals  ;  (5)  ghosts,  which  are 
the  recent  inhabitants  of  the  earth  existing  now  in  an  in- 
determinate condition,  still  troubled  with  the  passions  of 
their  earthly  life,  while  cut  off  from  the  means  of  satisfying 
them  ;  (6)  beings  in  hell  undergoing  punishment. 

These  are  the  various  forms  of  being,  in  one  or  other 
of  which  the  individual  life,  as  long  as  it  lasts,  will  always 
be  found.  The  aim  which  Buddha  set  before  his  disciples 
was  to  pass  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  of  these  forms 
of  being,  not  with  the  aim  of  resting  ultimately  in  the 


BUDDHISM  107 

active  and  conscious  enjoyment  of  the  highest,  but  of 
passing  out  of  it  into  a  state  of  non-existence.  It  has 
often  been  objected  to  the  doctrine  of  transmigration  that 
it  is  opposed  to  experience,  on  the  ground  that  we  have 
no  recollection  of  past  states  of  existence.  But  this 
objection,  according  to  the  Buddhist  view,  falls  to  the 
ground  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  experience  is  not 
regarded  as  the  test  of  truth ;  and  second,  because  it  is 
founded  on  the  idea,  of  which  we  can  hardly  rid  ourselves, 
of  the  persistent  existence  of  a  conscious  soul.  The 
Buddhist  doctrine  is  not  that  of  a  transmigration  of  souls 
existing  consciously  in  various  forms,  but  only  a  trans- 
migration of  what  is  called  "  karma."  Karma  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  the  accumulated  merit  belonging  to  the  indi- 
vidual, but  it  would  be  better  represented  by  the  mathe- 
matical conception  of  the  actual  value,  at  any  moment,  of » 
the  ever  changing  resultant  of  an  infinite  past  series  of 
acts  and  experiences.  In  short,  we  have  no  recollection 
of  our  past  because  in  philosophic  Buddhism  there  is  no 
"  we."  There  is  really  no  continuous  personal  existence. 
But  every  act,  and  all  the  acts  and  experiences  that  make 
up  a  life,  leave  behind  them  an  unconscious  resultant  force 
which  embodies  itself,  according  to  its  nature,  in  various 
forms  of  being.  When  the  good  has  predominated  over 
the  evil,  the  embodiment  will  take  a  higher  form  ;  when 
the  evil  over  the  good,  it  will  take  a  lower ;  but  there  can 
never  be  rest  or  permanence  in  any  stage. 

When  the  question  is  raised.  What  is  good  and  what 
is  evil  ?  it  is  not  to  be  answered  by  reference  to  any  per- 
manent moral  law,  and  still  less  to  any  thought  of  the  will 
of  a  personal  God.  It  must  be  answered  only  with  re- 
ference to  the  ultimate  end,  which  is  the  hope  of  escape 
from  these  ever-recurring  cycles  of  existence.  Hence 
desire  of  all  kinds  is  the  greatest  of  evils,  because  it 
involves  a  clinging  to  the  present  stage,  whatever  that 
may  be.      This   thought   of  transmigration    is  frequently 


io8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

embodied  in  Buddhistic  writings  under  the  symbol  of  a 
turning  wheel,  and  this  is  applied  both  to  what  is  called 
the  law,  and  also  to  the  experiences  of  the  individual  life. 
The  ultimate  aim  is  the  hope  of  extinction  which  is 
described  by  the  Indian  word  Nirvana.  The  term  Nirvana 
is  borrowed  from  the  extinction  of  a  lamp,  which  becomes 
the  symbol  of  ultimate  perfection,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
curious  ironies  of  literature  that  the  author  of  this  metaphor 
should  be  most  inappropriately  spoken  of  by  Western 
admirers  as  "  The  Light  of  Asia."  He  certainly  taught 
a  moral  law  which  in  many  of  its  elements  coincides  with 
the  requirements  of  universal  morality.  One  of  its  earliest 
statements  lays  down  the  following  five  rules  : — ( i )  kill  no 
living  thing  ;  (2)  do  not  steal ;  (3)  do  not  commit  adultery  ; 
(4)  do  not  lie  ;  (5)  drink  no  strong  drink.  To  these  were 
added  from  time  to  time  many  other  prohibitions  and 
commandments,  and  at  least  in  early  times  all  seem  to 
have  been  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of  gentleness,  one  might 
almost  say  by  a  law  of  love,  which  one  cannot  help  feeling 
to  be  the  outcome  of  the  gentle  and  kindly  nature  of 
Gautama  Buddha  himself  As  one  reads  the  Buddhist 
books  one  is  tempted  to  believe  that  unselfishness  of  a 
high  order  is  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  this  religion,  but 
on  searching  a  little  deeper  one  finds  that  this  apparent 
unselfishness  does  not  consist  in  yielding  one's  own  claims 
to  the  rights  and  claims  of  others,  but  rather  in  the  effort 
to  withdraw  oneself,  for  what  are  ultimately  selfish  reasons, 
from  all  connection  with  the  world  of  existence  around 
us.  Killing,  stealing,  and  so  on,  are  not  vices  because  in 
them  we  do  wrong  to  our  fellowmen,  nor  because  in  them 
we  violate  the  law  of  God.  They  are  evils  because  they 
minister  to  our  own  passion-nature.  They  strengthen  all 
those  passions  which  are  only  various  forms  of  our  clinging 
to  personal  existence.  They  therefore  tend  to  prolong 
our  entanglement  in  the  circling  wheel  of  life,  and  they 
are  to  be  avoided,  not  for  the  sake  of  self-discipline  in 


BUDDHISM  109 

order  to  the  development  of  an  abiding  moral  personality, 
but  in  order  to  cut  off  one  by  one  all  the  ties  that  bind 
us  to  existence,  which  is  the  root  cause  of  all  our  troubles. 

The  whole  theory  of  transmigration  is  a  theory  of  pro- 
longed progress  from  the  complicated  existence  in  which 
we  now  find  ourselves,  with  all  its  associated  miseries  and 
sorrows,  towards  ultimate  extinction  or  non-existence.  Its 
course,  whether  upward  or  downward,  depends  wholly  upon 
ourselves.  The  Buddha  is  regarded  as  the  Saviour  of  men, 
not  because  he  can  do  anything  in  aid  of  the  individual 
.soul,  but  because  he  first  lifted  the  veil  and  revealed  to 
men  the  inevitable  connection  between  existence  and 
suffering,  and  taught  them  that  existence  itself  is  really 
an  illusion  produced  by  the  depraved  action  of  our  own 
minds.  The  individual  must  work  out  his  own  salvation, 
not  by  aiming  at  higher  moral  activities  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  good  that  is  in  himself,  but  by  cutting  off  all 
activities,  good  and  evil  alike,  by  which  the  toils  and 
miseries  of  existence  may  be  prolonged.  Thus,  in  this 
narrow  sense,  the  Buddha  is  true  to  his  original  title  ;  he 
is  an  enlightener  rather  than  a  saviour.  Every  man,  being 
thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  is  taught  to  keep  a 
watchful  account  of  his  own  actions,  with  a  view  to  testing 
his  progress  towards  the  goal. 

But  the  goal  itself  is  not  really  a  moral  one,  and  the 
two  allied  doctrines  of  Karma  and  Nirvana,  on  which  the 
system  depends,  are  too  ethereal  for  popular  apprehension. 
Men  can  understand  the  elementary  distinctions  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  can  form  some  understanding  of  a 
balance  between  the  good  and  evil  actions  of  their  own 
lives,  but  the  abstract  idea  of  a  moral  resultant  which 
comes  down  from  a  vast  series  of  previous  existences,  and 
which  is  to  be  carried  forward  to  a  series  not  less  vast  in 
the  future,  is  too  subtle  and  too  far  away  from  daily  life 
to  carry  with  it  much  moral  weight.  It  does  not  constrain 
the    conscience,   and    it    almost   eludes   the   grasp   of  the 


no  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

imagination.  Besides,  the  aim  presented  to  the  Buddhist 
disciple,  of  reaching  at  last  the  condition  of  Nirvana,  is  too 
indefinite  for  practical  use.  Thus  there  inevitably  arises 
in  the  Buddhist  system  another  line  of  teaching  which  has 
practically  displaced,  at  least  in  China,  the  idea  of  Nirvana 
from  the  minds  of  the  people.  According  to  this  later 
teaching^  there  is  a  system  of  material  heavens  abundantly 
supplied  with  material  gratifications,  and  this  appeals 
much  more  strongly  to  the  popular  mind.  When  this 
stage  of  Buddhistic  development  is  reached,  we  are  already 
a  long  way  from  the  mental  attitude  of  Gautama  the 
Buddha  who  founded  the  system.  His  elementary  ideas 
were  founded  at  least  upon  a  genuine  analysis  of  his  own 
feelings  and  experiences.  For  the  development  of  later 
Buddhism  large  drafts  were  made  upon  the  imagination  of 
its  teachers  and  the  credulity  of  its  followers.  For  this 
reason  much  stress  is  laid  in  some  of  the  Buddhist  books 
on  the  need  of  "  faith."  One  of  the  later  Buddhist  books 
written  by  a  Chinese  author  says :  "  The  want  of  faith 
is  called  doubt,  from  which  the  numberless  errors  that 
exist  in  the  world  are  produced.  Faith  is  the  wide 
thoroughfare  for  entering  on  the  path  of  wisdom  ;  doubt 
is  the  great  enemy  of  religion.  Faith  may  be  compared 
to  a  propitious  wind  wafting  a  boat  down  a  river  ;  doubt 
to  the  whirling  eddies  of  the  tide  in  which  a  boat  from 
morning  till  night  constantly  revolves.  Buddha  can  save 
all  sentient  creatures,  but  he  cannot  rescue  men  who  have 
no  faith.  There  are  three  chief  reasons  why  men  have  not 
faith.  The  first  is  this  :  they  say  '  How  is  it  possible 
that  beyond  this  world  in  which  we  live,  its  sun  and  moon, 
there  can  yet  be  other  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds  ?  ' 
The  second  is  this  :  they  say,  '  When  men  are  dead  and 
their  bodies  corrupted,  and  their  vital  spirits  dispersed, 
how  is  it  possible  that  the  soul  can  rise  to  happiness  or 
sink  to  misery  ?  '  The  third  is  this  :  they  say,  '  It  is  im- 
possible to  believe  that  any  man  can  attain  to  the  con- 


BUDDHISM 


III 


dition  of  perfect  enlightenment/  as  much  as  to  say  that 
what  the  ear  or  the  eye  cannot  apprehend  ought  not  to  be 
believed,  but  should  be  persistently  denied.  On  the  same 
ground,  men  who  live  in  the  north  ought  not  to  believe 
that  there  are  merchant  ships  covering  the  southern  seas 
so  vast  that  they  can  carry  burdens  of  ten  thousand  piculs  ; 
and  men  of  Kiang-nan  ought  not  to  believe  that  the  nomads 
of  the  north  live  day  by  day  under  tents  capable  of 
sheltering  one  thousand  men.  So  it  is  men  object  to 
believe  in  the  Paradise  of  Buddha  and  that  every  good 
man  shall  go  there  and  be  happy  ;  whereas  they  should 
rather  say,  '  That  which  the  eye  cannot  see  is  justly 
elevated  as  a  reward  fit  for  the  soul'  " 

The  Paradise  of  Buddha  is  a  very  different  conception 
from  that  of  Nirvana,  the  extinction  of  existence,  which 
Buddha  himself  set  before  his  followers.  But  it  appeals 
much  more  to  the  popular  mind,  and  in  China  you  may 
meet  with  multitudes  of  Buddhists  who,  at  least,  speak  of 
the  western  heavens  as  an  object  of  hope,  while  you  will 
hardly  find  any  who  have  grasped  the  conception  of 
Nirvana.  The  whole  tendency  of  later  Buddhism  has 
been  in  the  same  direction.  Abstract  conceptions  have 
given  place  to  the  most  material  ideas  ;  Nirvana  to  the 
Paradise  of  Buddha  ;  the  cultivation  of  morality  to  the 
practice  of  rites  and  ceremonies  ;  and  self-discipline  and 
contemplation  to  the  worship  of  idols.  The  endless 
developments  of  this  so-called  "  faith  "  of  Buddhism  form 
a  strong  contrast  with  the  robust  realism  of  Confucianism. 
Confucius  erred  in  confining  his  attention  too  much  to 
what  is  seen  and  tangible  and  the  cultivation  of  morality 
in  its  most  baldly  practical  form.  He  shut  out  his 
followers,  as  we  have  seen,  from  all  effort  or  speculation 
which  pointed  in  the  direction  of  the  supernatural.  We 
are  almost  reconciled  to  the  strict  limits  which  he  set  to 
his  ethical  teaching  when  we  contemplate  the  results  of 
an  opposite  course  in  the  case  of  Buddhism. 


112  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

It  was  a  critical  time  both  for  Buddhism  and  for  China 
when  the  religion  of  Gautama,  leaving  its  ancient  home, 
began  to  find  its  way  eastward.  This  took  place  about 
the  time  of  the  Christian  era,  partly  through  Buddhist 
missionaries  who  passed  through  Central  Asia  and  brought 
their  teaching  into  China,  partly  and  perhaps  more  effi- 
caciously through  the  efforts  of  Chinese  pilgrims  who, 
either  by  command  of  the  Emperors  or  in  pursuance  of 
their  own  search  after  truth,  went  westwards,  encountered 
Buddhism  in  its  own  domains,  and  brought  back  with 
them  to  China  Buddhist  books,  images,  and  teachers. 

There  is  a  story  that  the  Emperor  Ming  of  the  Han 
Dynasty  in  the  year  6i  A.D.  had  a  dream  in  which  he 
saw  a  golden  figure  by  which  he  was  told  to  send  to  the 
West  in  search  of  the  true  doctrine.  This  story  is  sup- 
ported by  one  of  the  early  Buddhist  pilgrims  from  China 
who  has  left  an  account  of  his  travels.  He  says  that 
when  crossing  the  Indus  on  his  entry  into  India,  he  was 
asked  by  the  Buddhist  monks  of  the  place  whether  it 
could  be  known  when  the  law  of  Buddha  first  went  to 
the  East.  He  said  that  there  were  missionaries  from 
India  who  crossed  the  Indus  carrying  with  them  Buddhist 
sutras  and  books  of  discipline  after  the  setting  up  of  the 
image  of  Maitreya,  rather  more  than  three  hundred  years 
after  the  Nirvana  of  Buddha,  "  which,"  he  adds,  "  may  be 
referred  to  the  reign  of  King  P'ing  of  the  Chow  dynasty." 
This  statement  is  certainly  erroneous,  because  it  would 
throw  back  the  death  of  Buddha  to  the  eleventh  century 
before  the  Christian  era,  whereas  it  certainly  took  place 
not  less  than  six  or  seven  hundred  years  later.  But 
while  his  dates  are  certainly  incorrect,  there  is  probably 
some  substantial  truth  in  his  account  of  the  first  preach- 
ing of  Buddhism  in  China.  He  goes  on  to  say  :  "  If  it 
had  not  been  through  that  Maitreya,  the  great  spiritual 
master,  who  could  have  caused  the  three  precious  ones  to 
be   proclaimed   so   far,   and   the    people   of  these   border 


BUDDHISM  113 

lands  to  know  our  law  ?  We  know  of  a  truth  that  the 
opening  of  a  mysterious  propagation  is  not  the  work  of 
man,  and  so  the  dream  of  the  Emperor  Ming  of  Han  had 
its  proper  cause." 

Probably  more  was  done  for  the  introduction  of 
Buddhism  into  China  by  the  Buddhist  pilgrims  from  the 
Chinese  side  than  by  the  Indian  missionaries.  At  all 
events  we  have  fuller  information  as  to  their  activity  in 
the  search  for  the  Buddhist  doctrine  and  in  its  propaga- 
tion in  China.  The  pilgrim  whom  I  have  quoted  was  a 
native  of  Ch'ang-an,  in  North  China.  He  has  left  a  care- 
ful account  of  his  travels,  which  has  been  repeatedly  trans- 
lated into  English.  He  left  his  home  about  the  year 
399  A.D.  and  travelled  westward  through  Tibet,  and 
then  south  and  west  to  Peshawur,  thence  crossing  the 
Himalayas  into  Northern  India,  and  finding  his  way 
after  many  wanderings  to  the  early  seats  of  Buddhism, 
and  finally  to  the  sacred  city  of  Benares.  After  spend- 
ing many  years  in  his  quest  he  finally  took  ship  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ganges,  and  sailing  by  way  of  Ceylon  and 
Japan,  returned  to  his  native  land,  and  took  up  his  abode 
in  the  city  of  Nanking.  Thus,  by  the  combined  efforts 
of  Indian  missionaries  and  Chinese  pilgrims,  books, 
images,  and  priests  were  introduced  into  China,  and  the 
Buddhist  creed  and  worship  were  eagerly  cultivated  at 
the  Chinese  court. 

In  China  Buddhism  encountered  two  rival  faiths.  From 
what  I  have  said  of  the  Confucian  system,  you  will  readily 
gather  that  it  had  little  in  common  with  Buddhistic  teach- 
ing except  in  regard  to  those  outlines  of  practical  morals 
which,  being  drawn  from  the  natural  conscience,  are 
essentially  alike  in  all  sane  religions.  In  Taoism,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  met  with  a  system  whose  teachings  were 
strangely  like  its  own.  Between  Lao-tsze's  doctrine  of 
"  wu-wei  "  or  "  doing  nothing,"  as  the  highest  moral  attain- 
ment, and  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of   seeking  extrication 

H 


114  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

from  the  entanglements  of  existence,  there  is  no  very  wide 
severance.  Besides,  Taoism  and  Buddhism  alike  had 
entered  by  this  time  upon  that  course  of  materialising 
their  conceptions  which  has  led  in  both  religions  to  their 
endless  developments  of  idolatry.  Buddhist  and  Taoist 
sages  alike  were  represented  by  images  which  received 
idolatrous  worship.  And  thus  the  two  creeds  largely 
intermingled,  and  each  has  been  to  a  great  extent  shaped 
and  coloured  by  the  other.  The  course  taken  by  Con- 
fucius of  discountenancing  all  search  after  the  supernatural 
and  the  unseen,  so  far  from  checking  the  rising  tide  of 
superstition,  rather  gave  it  free  course.  Men  found  that 
they  could  follow  the  ethical  teaching  of  Confucius  and 
call  themselves  his  disciples,  and  yet  super-add  to  this  in 
other  departments  all  the  extravagances  of  the  Buddhist 
and  Taoist  idolatries.  Hence  it  is  that  the  Chinese  religion 
of  to-day  has  become  an  inextricable  blending  of  the  three 
systems.  The  distinctly  moral  elements  of  philosophical 
and  religious  teaching  are  common  to  all,  and  on  these 
points  there  is  no  controversy  between  them.  Confucian- 
ism continues  officially  to  frown  upon  and  denounce  the 
two  idolatries  as  systems  of  vulgar  superstition  ;  but  with 
the  same  worldly  wisdom  which  was  part  of  the  statecraft  of 
ancient  Rome,  it  has  seen  its  way  to  use  them  for  political 
purposes.  It  has  not  only  tolerated  these  two  faiths, 
which  seem  in  their  whole  spirit  so  alien  from  itself,  it  has 
even  sanctioned  their  establishment  within  the  Chinese 
Empire  as  religious  systems  with  definite  official  recogni- 
tion and  support.  There  are  official  Superiors  of  the 
Buddhist  religion,  recognised  by  the  Chinese  Government 
in  every  district  of  the  Empire,  who  are  responsible  to  the 
local  magistrates  for  the  conduct  of  the  Buddhist  priest- 
hood under  their  control,  and  there  is  the  corresponding 
and  still  more  elaborate  system  of  administration  under 
Chinese  authority  in  Tibet.  Similarly  the  head  of  the 
Taoist  faith,  described  as  the  Heavenly  Master,  has  official 


BUDDHISM  115 

recognition  and  authority,  and  under  him  are  inferior 
officials  to  whose  care  are  committed  certain  state  temples 
devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  powers  of  nature.  It  is  a 
singular  illustration  of  the  more  than  eclectic  temperament 
of  the  Chinese  mind  that  not  only  are  these  two  religions 
tolerated,  but  that  each  of  them  enjoys  an  elaborate  system 
of  official  establishment  throughout  the  Empire,  whilst  at 
the  same  time  there  is  theoretically  an  unwavering  ad- 
herence to  the  Confucian  view  which  condemns  Buddhism 
and  Taoism  alike  as  dangerous  and  hurtful  superstitions. 

It  may  be  convenient  here  to  refer  to  a  singular  docu- 
ment which  illustrates  the  Chinese  official  view  of  these 
two  systems.  It  contains  sixteen  brief  maxims,  which 
were  issued  by  the  famous  Emperor  Khang-hi  (1662- 
1723  A.D.)  for  the  instruction  of  his  people  in  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  social  morality  and  economics.  After 
inculcating  attention  to  filial  piety  and  family  ties,  local 
harmony,  industrious  husbandry  aud  thrift,  with  careful 
education,  he  touches  on  the  subject  of  religion  in  these 
terms  : — "  Degrade  strange  religions  in  order  to  exalt  the 
true  doctrine." 

The  true  doctrine  is,  of  course,  the  Confucian  sys- 
tem, while  the  strange  religions  are  three  in  number — 
Buddhism,  Taoism  and  Christianity  ;  the  latter  known  at 
that  date  only  from  the  teaching  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries. 

The  next  Emperor  composed  (in  1724  A.D.)  an  ampli- 
fication of  these  maxims,  and  later  still  a  high  official 
prepared  an  elaborate  paraphrase  of  the  whole  in  popular 
language,  in  order  to  adapt  them  to  the  instruction  of  the 
common  people.  This  is  how  he  deals  with  the  "  true 
doctrine  "  and  the  "  strange  religions."  He  says  :  "  What 
are  the  correct  sects  in  the  Empire?  There  are  only  the 
five  classics  and  the  four  books  handed  down  from  the 
sacred  sages.  These  all  contain  the  orthodox  doctrine  ; 
everyone  should  diligently  read  them.  .  .  .  From  of  old 


ii6  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

to  the  present  time  three  sects  have  been  handed  down. 
Besides  the  sect  of  the  learned  there  is  that  of  the  priests 
of  Buddha,  and  that  of  the  Taoist  doctors.  The  whole 
talk  of  the  priests  is  about  becoming  demi-gods,  and  equal 
to  Buddha,  their  founder.  When  a  son  leaves  his  family 
and  becomes  a  priest,  they  say  that  the  nine  gradations  of 
his  kindred  are  all  sure  of  ascending  to  heaven.  Now, 
consider  a  little.  Where  is  Buddha  ?  What  is  Buddha  ? 
Buddha  is  the  heart.  What  is  it  to  meditate  on  the 
essence  of  Buddha  ?  It  is  to  give  the  attention  every 
hour  and  instant  to  the  government  of  the  heart.  If  your 
heart  be  good  it  is  Buddha.  Hence  the  first  of  the  books 
of  their  sect  is  called  a  heart  classic.  The  sum  of  what 
this  heart  classic  says  is  that  the  heart  must  be  straight, 
not  zig-zag  ;  true,  not  hypocritical  ;  vigorous,  not  moping. 
Covetousness,  anger  and  immoderate  desire — these  three 
evils  must  all  be  rooted  up.  .  .  .  Therefore  Chu  Tsze  of 
the  Sung  dynasty  says,  '  The  sect  of  Buddha  regard  not 
heaven  and  earth,  or  anything  within  the  four  quarters, 
but  attend  only  to  the  heart'  This  sentence  contains  a 
complete  summary  of  the  original  doctrines  of  the  sect  of 
Buddha.  As  to  the  sect  of  Tao,  what  they  chiefly  insist 
on  is  the  law  of  renovation,  by  which  they  talk  of  solidify- 
ing quicksilver  ;  converting  lead  (into  gold) ;  calling  for 
grumbling  dragons  and  roaring  tigers  ;  forming  internal 
and  external  pills,  and  I  know  not  what  else.  They  have 
no  further  object  than  that  of  nourishing  well  the  animal 
spirits,  and  of  lengthening  out  life  for  a  few  years  ;  that  is 
all.  Chu  Tsze  says,  '  What  the  sect  of  Tao  chiefly  attend 
to  is  the  preservation  of  the  breath  of  life.'  .  .  .  You 
simple  people  know  not  how  to  discriminate,  for  even 
according  to  what  the  books  of  Buddha  say,  he  was  the 
first-born  son  of  the  King  Fan,  but  rejecting  the  world,  he 
fled  away  alone  to  the  top  of  the  snowy  mountains  in 
order  to  cultivate  virtue.  If  he  regarded  not  his  own 
father  and   mother,  wife  and  children,  are  you  such  fools 


BUDDHISM  117 

as  to  suppose  that  he  regards  the  multitude  of  the  living, 
or  would  deliver  his  laws  and  doctrine  to  you?  If  he 
rejected  the  imperial  residence,  the  palace  of  queens,  the 
dragon's  chamber,  and  the  halls  ornamented  with  the 
picture  of  the  king  of  birds,  is  it  not  marvellous  to  suppose 
that  he  should  delight  in  nunneries,  monasteries,  temples, 
and  religious  houses  which  you  can  build  for  him  ?  As 
to  the  Emperor  of  Gems,  the  most  honourable  in  heaven, 
of  whom  the  sect  of  Tao  speak,  if  there  be  indeed  such 
a  god,  it  is  strange  to  think  that  he  should  not  enjoy 
himself  at  his  own  ease  in  the  high  heaven,  but  must  have 
you  to  give  him  a  body  of  molten  gold,  and  build  him  a 
house  to  dwell  in.  .  .  .  Moreover  you  say  that  your  serving 
Buddha  is  a  very  profitable  service  ;  that  if  you  burn 
paper  money,  present  offerings,  and  keep  feasts  before  the 
face  of  your  god  Buddha,  he  will  dissipate  calamities,  blot 
out  your  sins,  increase  your  happiness,  and  prolong  your 
age.  Now  reflect.  From  of  old  it  has  been  said  the 
gods  are  intelligent  and  just.  Were  Buddha  a  god  of  this 
description,  how  could  he  avariciously  desire  your  gilt 
paper  and  your  offerings  to  encourage  him  to  afford  you 
protection  ?  If  you  do  not  burn  gilt  paper  to  him  and 
spread  offerings  on  his  altar,  the  god  Buddha  will  be  dis- 
pleased with  you,  and  send  down  judgments  on  you  ! 
Then  your  god  Buddha  is  a  scoundrel  !  Let  us  take  for 
example  your  District  Officer.  Though  you  never  go  to 
compliment  and  flatter  him,  yet,  if  you  be  good  people 
and  attend  to  your  duty,  he  will  pay  a  marked  attention 
to  you.  But  if  you  transgress  the  law,  commit  violence, 
and  usurp  the  rights  of  others,  if  you  should  use  a 
thousand  ways  and  means  to  flatter  him  he  still  will  be 
displeased  with  you,  and  will  without  fail  remove  the  pests 
from  society.  You  say  that  your  worshipping  Buddha 
atones  for  your  sins,  but  suppose  that  you  have  broken 
the  law  in  some  particular,  and  are  brought  to  the 
judgment  hall  to  be  punished,  if  you  should  with  a  loud 


ii8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA 

voice  call  out  for  a  thousand  times  "  Your  excellency,  your 
excellency/  do  you  think  the  magistrate  would  spare  you  ?  " 

This  drastic  polemic  against  idolatry  is  not  confined  to  the 
pages  of  an  old  book.  It  is  by  law  read  and  commented 
on  in  turn  with  the  other  fifteen  maxims  on  the  first  and 
fifteenth  days  of  every  month,  by  the  local  magistrates 
or  their  deputies  in  every  part  of  the  Empire.  So  far 
therefore  as  Christianity  is  hostile  to  idolatry,  we  have  the 
highest  official  sanction  for  setting  forth  this  aspect  of  it. 
No  wise  missionary  would  allow  himself  the  harshness 
of  the  official  criticism  of  the  popular  faith,  but  with 
discretion  and  courtesy  a  missionary  can  in  China  use  a 
good  deal  of  freedom  in  speaking  of  idolatry,  since  it  is 
well  known  to  all  that  the  greatest  traditions  of  Chinese 
history,  and  the  highest  native  authority,  is  of  one  mind 
with  us  in. all  this  department  of  religious  discussion. 

The  two  systems  of  idol-worship  are  less  formidable 
antagonists  to  the  truth  than  Confucianism.  It  would  be 
wrong  to  say  that  they  have  not  a  strong  hold  on  the 
minds  of  the  people.  But  they  hold  them  by  their  fears,  and 
when  these  fears  are  defied  by  a  few,  and  it  is  seen  that 
the  burdensome  yoke  of  superstition  can  be  thrown  off 
without  hurt,  the  power  of  idolatry  begins  to  crumble. 

Confucianism,  on  the  contrary,  holds  men  through  their 
moral  sense.  Its.  ancestral  worship  appeals  in  theory  to 
their  best  feelings,  and  its  ethical  standard  is  high  enough 
to  answer  the  demand  of  the  common  conscience.  Con- 
fucianism is  the  most  powerful  element  in  national  life, 
and  it  maintains  its  hold  with  singular  persistency,  even 
on  the  minds  of  the  most  intelligent  Christians.  Not- 
withstanding its  high  pretensions,  it  is  too  apparent  that 
the  moral  life  is  gone  out  of  it.  We  would  fain  welcome 
it  as  an  ally,  but  are  driven  to  regard  it  as  our  most 
formidable  foe.  It  is  the  dead  hand  whose  grasp  must  be 
loosed  before  China  can  go  free,  to  carry  her  regenerated 
powers  into  the  service  of  God  in  Christ. 


LECTURE  V 

THE  SWATOW  MISSION  FIELD  :    PHYSICAL  FEATURES  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 

In  the  sketch  which  I  have  given  you  of  primitive  life  in 
China  is  to  be  found  the  clue  to  the  social  life  and  customs 
of  the  present  day.  Passing  from  the  wide  field  of  China 
as  a  whole,  I  will  try  to  put  before  you  one  district,  which 
may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  modern  China  as  a  field 
for  mission  work. 

The  field  of  the  Swatow  Mission  lies  along  the  sea 
coast  for  a  distance  of  about  150  miles,  between  the 
meridians  of  longitude  1 1  5  and  117.  It  forms  the  most 
easterly  portion  of  the  rich  and  populous  province  of 
Canton.  It  may  be  divided  broadly  into  two  great 
regions,  the  one  consisting  of  fertile  plains  formed  by 
the  rivers,  and  the  other  of  the  mountain  districts  by 
which  these  river  courses  are  separated.  The  plains  are 
occupied  by  people  speaking  one  dialect  or  language 
which  is  called  Hok-lo  ;  the  mountain 'districts  by  another 
race  of  Chinese,  speaking  a  different  dialect  which  is 
called  Hak-ka.  Two  great  river  systems  meet  at  the 
town  of  Swatow,  which  is  the  centre  of  the  Swatow 
mission  field.  One  of  these  rivers  flows  almost  directly 
south  from  the  mountains  around  the  important  city  of 
Ting-chow-fu,  and  reaches  the  sea  after  a  course  of  about 
200  miles.  For  three-fourths  of  its  course  it  winds 
among  the  hills  which  are  occupied  by  the  Hak-ka 
speaking  populace,  and  where  it  emerges  upon  the  plains 
it  waters  the  fertile  soil  which  is  occupied  by  the  Hok-lo 
people.      It  passes  by  the  walls  of  the  great  city  of  Chao- 

119 


I20  THE  SWA  TOW  MISSION  FIELD 

chow-foo,  which  contains  a  population  of  some  two 
hundred  thousand  souls.  Immediately  below  the  city  the 
river  divides  into  a  series  of  channels  diverging  from  each 
other,  which,  by  the  soil  which  they  have  brought  down 
in  the  course  of  centuries,  have  gradually  built  up  the 
fertile  delta,  which  forms  one  large  and  important  part  of 
the  Swatow  mission  field.  Two  other  rivers  rise  from  the 
mountains  to  the  north-west  and  the  west  of  Swatow, 
and  flow,  one  in  a  south-easterly  and  the  other  in  an 
easterly  direction,  washing  on  either  side  the  walls  of  the 
district  city  of  Kieh-yang.  They  unite  some  miles  to  the 
east  of  the  city,  and  pour  their  united  stream  into  a  wide 
tidal  estuary,  on  whose  northern  bank  the  town  of 
Swatow  is  situated.  Further  to  the  south  another  river 
runs  from  west  to  east,  and  reaches  the  sea  through  another 
somewhat  smaller  estuary.  Beyond  these  are  minor 
streams  which  fall  into  the  sea  at  various  points  on  the 
coast  between  Swatow  and  the  British  colony  of  Hong- 
Kong.  All  these  rivers  water  extensive  plains  of  fertile 
soil  which  support  a  very  large  and  industrious  population. 
Besides  these  principal  rivers,  the  whole  country  is 
intersected  by  a  system  of  smaller  streams  and  artificial 
canals.  These  are  used  both  for  purposes  of  transport 
and  for  irrigation,  and  an  immense  amount  of  labour  has 
been  expended  in  digging  the  channels  and  banking 
them  in  for  the  protection  of  the  fields,  which  are  often 
on  a  lower  level  than  the  rivers  themselves.  The 
whole  district  is  called  by  the  descriptive  name  Chao- 
chow,  locally  pronounced  Tie-chiu,  which  means  "  the 
tidal  department."  This  name  points  to  the  fact  that 
the  fall  of  the  rivers  which  pass  through  the  district  is 
very  slight,  and  that  tides  make  themselves  felt  in  some 
directions  to  a  distance  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  from  the 
sea.  In  some  cases  channels  have  been  cut  parallel  with 
the  rivers,  opening  into  them  at  their  upper  end  and 
closed  at  the  lower,  so  as  to  admit  the  fresh  water  from 


Mission  Probleins 


Page  12a 


A  Tiger  1'rap 


PHYSICAL  FEATURES  121 

the  river  and  exclude  the  salt  tidal  waters,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  irrigation.  The  district  has  a  coast  line  of  over 
two  hundred  miles,  and  there  is  no  part  of  it  more  than 
fifty  miles  from  the  sea.  )  Behind  it  lies  the  Hak-ka 
country.  The  line  of  demarcation  runs,  for  the  most 
part,  parallel  to  the  coast  from  S.W.  to  N.E.,  but  is 
broken  by  spurs  of  the  lower  hills  which  run  out 
towards  the  sea.  It  follows  the  contour  of  the  moun- 
tains which  rise  abruptly  from  the  cultivated  plains,  and 
recede  to  a  tableland  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  These  two 
districts  of  country,  the  Hok-lo  or  coast  district,  and 
the  Hak-ka  or  hill  district,  present  very  distinct  physi- 
cal characteristics,  and  the  people  who  occupy  them 
differ  greatly  in  their  character  and  habits.  A  compari- 
son of  the  two  districts  shows  with  remarkable  vividness 
how  population  and  cultivable  areas  go  together.  The 
ancient  process  of  settlement  which  was  gone  through  by 
the  ancestors  of  the  Chinese  people  along  the  banks  of 
the  Yellow  River,  and  later  on  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  has 
evidently  been  repeated  on  a  smaller  scale  in  the  gradual 
occupation  of  the  Swatow  district  by  the  people  who  now 
inhabit  it.  In  the  Hak-ka  country,  population  is  thinly 
scattered  in  small  hamlets  among  the  hills.  There  are 
very  few  large  towns,  and  even  villages  of  considerable 
size  are  not  numerous.  Wherever  little  strips  of  cultiv- 
able land  are  to  be  found  in  valleys  among  the  mountains, 
small  hamlets  are  planted,  with  sometimes  not  more  than 
eighty  or  one  hundred  inhabitants,  and  rarely  more  than 
one  or  two  thousand.  In  the  low  lying  district  of  the 
Hok-lo  country,  on  the  other  hand,  the  population  is 
exceedingly  dense.  There  are  three  classes  of  centres  of 
population,  which  are  distinguished  by  the  names  given 
to  them  by  the  Chinese,  names  which  correspond,  more 
or  less,  to  our  cities,  towns,  and  villages.  The  cities  are 
surrounded  by  high  walls,  and   are  the  seats  of  the  local 


1 22  THE  SWA  TOW  MISSION  FIELD 

magistrates.  There  are  ten  of  these  principal  cities  in  the 
Hok-lo  country,  some  of  them  having  as  many  as  two 
hundred  thousand  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  some  not  more  than  forty  or  fifty 
thousand.  These  large  cities  are  generally  planted  on 
the  banks  of  the  rivers  or  at  other  important  points  which 
have  for  natural  reasons  become  commercial  centres. 
Chao-chow-foo,  the  principal  city  of  the  whole  district, 
may  be  taken  as  an  example.  It  stands  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  north  river  at  a  distance  of  about  twenty-one 
miles  north  of  the  seaport  town  of  Swatow.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  castellated  wall  thirty  to  forty  feet  in 
height  and  twenty  feet  in  thickness.  There  are  four 
principal  gates  named  from  the  four  points  of  the  com- 
pass, and  over  each  is  a  three-storied  tower  which  is 
occupied  by  a  military  guard.  Two  main  streets  run 
through  the  city,  one  from  the  north  gate  to  the  south, 
another  from  the  east  gate  to  the  west.  The  area  within 
the  walls  is  closely  built  upon,  and  very  little  open 
ground  is  left.  The  principal  exception  is  within  the 
precincts  of  the  official  residence  of  the  governor,  called 
the  Tao-tai,  where  there  is  a  large  park  with  ornamental 
ponds  and  timber  trees.  But  even  where  the  city  is 
densely  built,  banyans  and  other  trees  rise  from  the  court- 
yards of  the  houses,  and  agreeably  break  the  monotonous 
expanse  of  house  roofs  which  stretch  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  see.  Outside  the  city  walls  there  are  large  suburbs, 
especially  to  the  south  and  west.  Within  the  north  gate 
rises  a  considerable  hill,  which  is  laid  out  in  ornamental 
gardens  with  a  number  of  public  buildings,  some  of  which 
are  temples,  while  others  are  occupied  by  a  public  library 
and  official  reception  rooms.  At  the  east  gate  a  bridge, 
nearly  half  a  mile  in  length,  spans  the  river,  and  connects 
the  city  with  a  large  suburb  on  the  opposite  bank.  On 
either  side  of  the  river  the  bridge  consists  of  enormous 
blocks  of  granite  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  length,  and 


PHYSICAL  FEATURES  123 

from  seven  to  five  feet  in  breadth  and  thickness,  resting 
on  great  piers  built  of  stone.  In  the  centre,  where  the 
current  runs  most  strongly,  is  a  bridge  of  boats,  fastened 
by  an  iron  chain,  which  connects  the  piers  thrown  out 
from  either  side.  The  principal  streets  of  the  city  and 
the  stone  piers  of  the  bridge  are  densely  lined  by  shops. 
The  chief  street,  which  connects  the  north  and  south 
gates  of  the  city,  is  paved  with  slabs  of  stone,  and  arched 
over  through  a  great  part  of  its  length  with  ornamental 
carved  arches,  inscribed  with  complimentary  inscriptions 
in  honour  of  former  distinguished  inhabitants.  On  either 
side  of  the  street  are  the  shops  of  shoemakers,  silk 
merchants,  apothecaries  and  booksellers,  while  the  pave- 
ment is  freely  encroached  upon  by  the  little  tables  and 
booths  of  fortune-tellers,  seal  cutters,  letter  writers,  sellers 
of  plasters  and  quack  medicines,  and  dealers  in  old  iron 
and  curios.  The  streets  are  thronged  by  continual  tides 
of  people  passing  to  and  fro,  both  natives  of  the  city — 
usually  distinguishable  by  their  better  dress — -and  the 
country  people  who  have  brought  in  their  products  for 
sale,  or  are  buying  and  carrying  away  the  wares  of  the 
city  shopkeepers. 

In  the  city  are  the  official  residences  of  the  magistrates 
of  the  city  itself  and  of  the  surrounding  district.  Chief  of 
these  is  the  Tao-tai,  who  is  next  in  rank  to  the  governor 
of  a  whole  province.  The  Tao-tai  of  Chao-chow-foo  governs 
three  departments,  Chao-chow,  Kia-ying-chow  and  Hwei- 
chow.  For  all  purposes  of  civil  government  he  is  master 
of  eleven  millions  of  people.  He  collects  revenue,  ad- 
ministers criminal  law,  and  reviews  and  controls  the 
action  of  a  large  number  of  subordinate  officials.  He  is 
himself  a  civil  officer,  usually  of  high  literary  rank,  and 
takes  precedence  of,  and  to  a  certain  extent  controls, 
all  military  officials  within  the  departments  which  he 
governs.  Next  in  rank  to  him  among  the  civil  officers 
comes  the  Fu,  or  the  Prefect,  whose  jurisdiction  is  con- 


1 24  THE  S  WA  TO  W  MISSION  FIELD 

fined  to  the  department  of  Chao-chow  alone.  Under  the 
Fu  is  the  Hien,  or  District  Magistrate,  who  governs  one 
of  the  nine  districts  into  which  the  prefecture  of  Chao- 
chow  is  divided.  Each  of  these  three  civil  officers  has 
his  official  residence  within  the  walls  of  the  city,  with 
public  halls  in  which  he  administers  a  substitute  for 
justice,  and  rows  of  smaller  houses  which  are  occupied 
by  secretaries,  clerks,  guards  and  police.  Besides  these 
principal  officials,  there  are  various  officers  of  lower  rank 
who  assist  in  the  administering  of  ordinary  business, 
besides  expectants  of  office  not  yet  appointed  to  perma- 
nent posts,  who  are  sent  as  deputies  for  the  settlement 
of  particular  cases.  There  are  also  military  officials  of 
various  ranks,  the  highest  of  whom  is  the  Tin-tai,  or 
Colonel,  and  they  are  required  to  co-operate  with  the 
civil  authorities  in  the  preservation  of  order  in  case  of 
need. 

This  city,  Chao-chow-foo,  is  the  principal  seat  of  the 
government,  and  perhaps  the  largest  city  of  the  whole 
district,  but  the  other  district  cities,  in  which  are  the 
official  residences  of  district  magistrates,  present  much 
the  same  characteristics,  though  on  a  smaller  scale.  But 
it  is  essential  to  the  Chinese  idea  of  a  city  that  it  be 
surrounded  by  a  wall  with  gates  that  are  closed  at  night- 
fall, and  it  is  always  the  residence  of  civil  and  military 
officials,  and  supposed  to  be  capable  of  military  defence. 
There  is  another  class  of  towns  which  have  not  the  same 
political  standing,  but  some  of  which  are  of  hardly  less 
importance  both  as  centres  of  population  and  as  centres 
of  trade,  and  in  them  is  collected  much  of  the  busiest 
life  of  the  district.  The  great  bulk  of  the  people  live  in 
what  are  called  villages,  but  the  word  "  village  "  as  used 
in  English  is  hardly  a  fitting  description  of  the  places 
that  are  so  described.  Many  of  these  so-called  villages 
are  considerable  towns,  with  populations  of  ten  or  fifteen 
thousand  inhabitants.      In  some  of  them  markets  are  held 


PHYSICAL  FEATURES  125 

on  fixed  days,  which  attract  large  numbers  of  people 
from  the  surrounding  country.  It  is  an  interesting  sight 
to  see  the  streams  of  population  entering  these  market 
towns  on  the  mornings  and  evenings  of  market  days. 
In  the  morning  you  can  see  long  streams  of  people 
carrying  all  the  varied  products  of  the  surrounding  country 
into  market.  Rice,  potatoes,  sugar  cane,  cut  bamboos, 
baskets  and  other  wares  made  out  of  bamboo,  with 
buffaloes,  pigs,  and  fowls,  are  all  brought  in  in  immense 
numbers  ;  and  in  the  evening  you  see  the  same  goods, 
after  redistribution  in  the  market-place,  being  taken 
away  in  other  directions  to  adjust  the  supply  to  the 
demand  of  the  scattered  villages.  The  scenes  in  the 
busy  market-place  often  present  a  condensed  picture  of 
the  whole  social  life  and  industry  of  the  surrounding 
country. 

As  the  wall  is  essential  to  the  Chinese  conception  of 
a  city,  so  it  is  essential  to  their  idea  of  a  village  that  it 
should  comprise  a  stretch  of  cultivable  land.  What  we 
should  call  the  village  itself  may  consist  only  of  a  few 
small  dwelling-houses,  with  or  without  a  surrounding 
wall  ;  or  it  may  consist  of  a  considerable  town,  with  many 
streets  and  lanes,  and  a  dense  population  ;  but  in  either 
case  it  must  possess  its  stretch  of  fields  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, of  greater  or  less  area  according  to  the  numbers 
of  the  population  and  their  wealth.  From  any  of  the 
hill-tops  on  the  borders  of  the  great  plains  of  Tie-chiu, 
these  cultivated  lands  may  be  seen  stretching  into  the 
distance  for  many  miles.  In  summer  they  are  thickly 
covered  with  the  fresh  green  of  the  rice  fields,  while  near 
the  time  of  the  two  harvests  they  turn  yellow,  and  present 
much  the  same  aspect  as  fields  of  ripe  wheat.  In  either 
case  they  give  a  strong  impression  of  great  fertility  and 
beauty.  The  laying  out  of  the  rice  lands  is  the  result 
of  many  generations-  of  very  careful  and  laborious  work. 
None  of  the  fields  are  of  large  extent,  because  every  part 


1 26  THE  SWATOW  MISSION  FIELD 

of  the  whole  area  must  be  perfectly  level.     The  fields  are 
separated   by   little   earthen   boundaries,   often   not   more 
than  six  inches  wide,  and  the  levels  of  the  different  fields 
are  so  adjusted  that  the  water  for  irrigation  runs  in  suc- 
cession from  one  to  another  often  for  a  distance  of  several 
miles.     This  affords  room  for  much  engineering  skill  of  a 
primitive  kind,  and  requires  also  careful  adjustment  of  the 
respective  rights  of  the  owners  of  these  fields.      The  seed 
is    sown   under  water  in  small  plots  which  are  carefully 
watched  and  manured  until  the  plants  are  six  inches  or 
eight  inches  in  height.      Meanwhile  the  whole  area  to  be 
planted   has    been    carefully    ploughed    and    kept    under 
water  for  many  days.     When  the  plants   are   ready  for 
planting  out,   men,  women,  and    children  join    in   lifting 
them,  carrying  them  to  the  fields,  and  setting  them  out 
in  little  tufts  in   regular  lines  about  a  foot  apart.      From 
that  time  the    plants   must  be   kept  flooded   with  water 
until  the  grain  begins   to   ripen.      An   important  part  of 
the  culture  consists  in  regulating  the  flow  of  water  from 
day  to  day,  so  as  to  maintain  it  at  a  nearly  constant  level. 
When  natural  streams  are  not  available  for  the  purpose, 
this  must  be  done  by  artificial  means.      A  wooden  chain 
pump   is   very  frequently  used   to  draw  water  from   the 
rivers   and   raise   it   to   the   level  of  the  fields  upon    the 
banks.      It  consists  of  a  long  wooden  trough,  with  a  chain 
of  paddles  fitted  inside  passing  round  an  axle  at  each  end. 
The  upper  axle  has  projecting  footholds  which  are  trodden 
by  the  feet  of  two  or  three  men,  and  the  continual  revolu- 
tion of  the  paddles  brings  up  a  steady  stream  of  water. 
In  times  of  drought  the  creaking  of  these  pumps  may  be 
heard    night    and    day   far   and    wide   over   the   country, 
testifying    to    an    enormous    amount    of    laborious    toil. 
When  the  grain  is  nearly  ripe  the  water  is  run  off,  and 
the  ground  allowed  to  become  nearly  dry.     When  harvest 
time  arrives  the  crop  is  cut  with  sickles  not  unlike  our 
own,  but  the  grain,  instead  of  being  stacked  for  threshing 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  127 

is  threshed  upon  the  spot.  Large  tubs  with  high  sides 
are  placed  in  the  fields  ;  a  small  ladder  is  placed  within, 
leaning  against  the  side,  and  the  reaper,  holding  a  bunch 
of  straw  in  his  hands,  beats  the  ears  against  the  ladder, 
so  that  the  grain  falls  into  the  bottom  of  the  tub.  It  is 
then  carried  home  in  baskets  to  be  dried  and  winnowed 
at  leisure. 

Throughout  all  parts  of  the  Tie-chiu  district,  rice  is  the- 
main  crop  and  yields  two  harvests  annually,  one  in 
summer,  the  other  in  winter.  It  is  grown  not  only  in 
the  great  plains  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  principal 
rivers,  but  its  cultivation  is  even  carried  into  little  glens 
among  the  hills,  where  it  would  seem  impossible  to 
practice  a  culture  that  requires  a  level  surface.  The 
hillsides  are  carefully  terraced,  sometimes  as  many  as  two 
hundred  terraces  rising  one  above  the  other  in  one  con- 
nected series.  By  the  sea  coast  new  strips  of  marshy 
soil  are  gradually  added  from  time  to  time  to  the  rice- 
bearing  plains.  They  are  enclosed  by  high  clay  dikes 
to  keep  out  the  sea,  and  for  the  first  few  years  after 
enclosure  special  varieties  of  a  coarse  rice  which  can  grow 
in  brackish  water  are  cultivated,  until  the  quality  of  the 
land  gradually  improves  with  long  cultivation,  and  finer 
sorts  can  be  grown. 

Alongside  of  the  rice  fields  and  specially  on  any  rising 
grounds,  or  near  the  foot  of  the  hills,  large  quantities  of 
sugar  cane  are  grown.  This  requires  comparatively  little 
care  in  cultivation.  Canes  are  cut  into  short  lengths,  and 
the  joints  are  steeped  in  water  until  young  shoots  begin 
to  show,  and  the  cuttings  are  then  planted  in  long  rows. 
By  the  end  of  the  year  the  plants  attain  a  height  of  from 
I  o  to  15  feet,  and  when  cut  down  for  crushing,  the  roots 
are  left  to  produce  a  second  crop  in  the  following  year. 
The  second  year's  crop  is  heavier  than  the  first,  but  in 
the  third  year  the  canes  become  smaller  and  yield  less 
freely ;  the  roots  are  then  dug  up  to  be  used  as  fuel,  and 


1 28  THE  SWA  TOW  MISSION  FIELD 

the  ground  is  planted  anew.  A  characteristic  feature  of 
the  landscape  during  the  sugar  harvest  in  winter  is  the 
large  conical  mat  shed,  numbers  of  which  are  erected 
over  the  country  among  the  sugar  fields  ;  in  these  the 
crushing  of  the  cane  and  boiling  of  the  juice  are  carried  on. 
The  men  of  each  village  club  together  to  erect  and  work 
these  sugar  factories,  supplying  the  stone  crushing-rollers 
from  their  common  capital,  and  each  contributes  his  share 
of  work,  as  well  as  the  services  of  his  own  buffalo. 

The  culture  of  rice  and  of  sugar  are  the  two  principal 
sources  of  wealth  in  the  Tie-chiu  district,  but  there  are 
also  large  areas  of  ground  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  sweet  potato  for  immediate  use.  It  is  not  a  favourite 
food,  but  is  largely  used  by  the  poorer  classes  as  a  sub- 
stitute in  whole  or  in  part  for  rice.  In  some  cases  it  is 
cut  into  slices  and  dried  for  the  manufacture  of  potato 
starch.  In  still  poorer  districts  of  the  country,  where  none 
of  the  more  profitable  crops  can  be  reared,  the  cultivators 
fall  back  on  the  humble  earth-nut,  of  which  large  quantities 
are  grown  even  in  poor  soils.  The  so-called  nuts  are 
produced  underground,  and  when  dug  up,  dried  and 
crushed,  yield  a  large  proportion  of  a  coarse  oil  which  is 
used  for  lighting,  and  to  some  extent  as  food.  Besides 
these  principal  cultures  a  large  variety  of  other  plants  are 
grown,  such  as  indigo,  tapioca,  hemp,  tobacco,  turnips, 
cabbages,  yams,  millet,  and  maize  ;  but  in  every  district, 
whatever  the  capacity  of  the  soil  may  be,  the  most  is  made 
of  every  portion  of  it,  and  the  crops  are  carefully  adjusted 
to  the  nature  of  the  local  soil.  As  one  passes  through 
the  country  one  sees  everywhere  how  much  can  be  done 
by  the  painstaking  industry  of  a  large  but  poor  popula- 
tion, whose  ground  is  sub-divided  into  very  small  sections 
and  receives  everywhere  the  minutest  care. 

The  smaller  villages  are  usually  occupied  by  people  be- 
longing to  one  clan,  or  of  the  same  surname.  In  the 
larger  villages  it  frequently  happens  that  different  sections 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  129 

of  the  village  belong  to  different  clans.  But  the  whole 
social  fabric  and  the  ownership  of  cultivated  lands  is 
based  upon  the  continued  close  association  of  relatives 
descended  from  a  common  ancestor.  Almost  every 
farmer,  however  poor,  possesses  at  least  some  little  plots 
of  ground  of  his  own.  The  father  of  a  family  in  antici- 
pation of  his  death  divides  his  land  among  his  sons,  who 
may  afterwards  continue  to  cultivate  the  whole  in  common, 
or  who  may  part  company,  each  cultivating  his  own  share. 
There  are  no  doubt  natural  checks  to  this  continuous  sub- 
division of  holdings  in  land,  but  the  individual  plots, 
partly  as  a  result  of  this  process  and  partly  for  con- 
venience in  the  work  of  irrigation,  are  usually  very  small. 
Besides,  the  ground  cultivated  by  one  family  is  often  very 
widely  scattered,  and  may  consist  often  or  twenty  patches 
having  no  connection  with  each  other,  and  separated  by 
lands  which  belong  to  other  members  of  the  village. 
Besides  the  land  which  is  their  own  property  many  of  the 
cultivators  also  rent  fields  belonging  to  others.  Theore- 
tically the  emperor  is  the  over-lord  of  all  the  soil,  and  an 
annual  field  rent  is  collected  by  the  mandarins  as  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  Imperial  revenue. 

When  one  sees  how  carefully  and  continuously  cultiva- 
tion is  carried  on,  it  might  be  supposed  that  the  soil 
would  long  ere  this  have  become  exhausted,  but  the 
Chinese  cultivators  are  fully  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
returning  to  the  soil  the  elements  which  have  been  re- 
moved from  it  by  the  production  of  crops.  For  this 
purpose  all  natural  manures  are  largely  used.  Straw, 
stubble,  and  roots,  which  cannot  be  used  for  other  purposes 
are  burned  and  the  ashes  returned  to  the  land.  There  is 
besides  a  large  importation  of  bean-cake  from  the  north 
of  China,  which  forms  a  rich  fertiliser  both  for  the  rice  and 
for  the  sugar  crops.  This  bean-cake  consists  of  the  com- 
pressed pulp  of  beans  from  which  oil  has  been  extracted. 
It  is  a  costly  item  in  the  expenditure  of  poor  cultivators. 

I 


1 30         THE  SWA  TOW  MISS/ON  FIELD 

Apart  from  agriculture,  there  are  almost  no  industries 
in  the  inland  districts.  Weaving  is  extensively  practised, 
but  nowhere  on  a  large  scale.  It  is  chiefly  carried  on  by 
the  women  in  their  homes,  and  the  cloth  woven  is  carried 
for  sale  to  local  markets.  On  the  sea  coast,  on  the  other 
hand,  large  numbers  of  fishermen  find  employment  in 
gathering  the  harvest  of  the  sea.  Fresh  fish  must,  for 
lack  of  means  of  rapid  carriage,  be  consumed  for  the 
most  part  on  the  spot,  but  large  quantities  are  salted, 
and  sometimes  dried,  both  for  transportation  to  inland  dis- 
tricts, and  to  a  less  extent,  for  export  abroad.  It  is 
another  illustration  of  the  minute  care  which  the  Chinese 
have  applied  to  the  development  of  the  means  of  living, 
that,  even  in  inland  districts,  a  good  deal  of  comfort  is 
added  to  the  living  of  the  people  by  the  artificial  cultiva- 
tion of  fresh-water  fish  in  fish  ponds.  The  young  fry  are 
bought  or  reared  for  the  purpose,  let  loose  in  large  ponds  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  village,  and  carefully  fed  throughout  the 
year.  At  certain  times,  and  especially  before  festivals  and 
holidays,  and  most  of  all  shortly  before  the  Chinese  New  Year, 
these  fish  are  caught  and  sold,  or  used  in  the  village  feasts. 

The  impression  of  industry  created  by  the  field  work 
in  the  country  is  confirmed  in  entering  the  villages. 
Most  of  the  homes  are  very  poor,  and  large  numbers 
of  the  population  live  in  houses  of  a  single  room.  These 
rooms  invariably  consist  of  three  unbroken  walls,  the  only 
opening  being  the  door  in  front.  Two  beds  occupy  the 
inner  corners  of  the  room.  One  of  the  outer  corners  is 
filled  by  a  brick  or  earthen  cooking  stove.  The  remain- 
ing corner  is  often  enclosed  by  a  large  mat  of  bamboo 
splints,  set  upon  its  edge  and  curved  into  a  circle.  It 
thus  becomes  a  receptacle  for  the  stock  of  rice  which  is  to 
be  the  family's  main  subsistence  throughout  the  year.  A 
table  and  two  or  three  wooden  stools  complete  the  furni- 
ture of  the  room,  while  the  remaining  space  is  filled  up 
with  indescribable  accumulations  of  all  kinds  of  rubbish, 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  131 

or  used  as   sleeping  room  and   hunting  ground   by  fowls 
and  pigs.      Many  of  the  people,  however,  especially  in  the 
more  thinly  peopled  districts,  occupy  houses  of  a  some- 
what better  type  ;  but  speaking  generally,  one  might  say 
that  all   better  class  Chinese  houses,  however  large,  are 
based  in  plan  upon  the  repetition,  on  various  scales  of  size 
and  elegance,  of  one  unit :  that  is  to  say,  the  typical  Chinese 
cottage,  which  consists  of  three  rooms  side  by  side  under 
one  roof.      The  central  room   is   either  entirely  open  to 
the  front,  or  is   closed   only  by  folding  doors,  which  are 
thrown  open  in  the  daytime.      On  either  side  of  it,  and 
opening   off   it,   is    a    smaller    room,   often    without    any 
window,  which  forms  a  bedroom.      Sometimes   there  are 
projecting  wings,  used  as  kitchens  or  living  rooms,  and 
the  largest   and  finest  houses   consist  of  little  else  than 
a   multiplication    of  these   elements.     The   outside   of   a 
Chinese  house,  as  the  outside  of  a  village,  presents  usually 
the  appearance  of  a  dead  wall.      Windows   in  the  outer 
walls    are  avoided,   partly   through   fear    of   thieves    and 
partly    for   superstitious   reasons.       It   is   said   that  good 
luck   enters  by  the  front  door,  and  that  the  opening  of 
windows  in   the   rear   walls   allows   it   to  escape.     What 
windows  there  are   contain   no  glass,  and  are  closed  by 
wooden  bars,  with  sometimes  a  wooden  shutter  added  to 
exclude  rain   and  wind.      In    better  houses  the  windows 
are   sometimes   made   of  oyster  shells    ground   into   thin 
layers,  placed  together  in  wooden  frames.      During  one's 
early  years  in  China  one  is   inclined  to  wonder  where  the 
rich  people  live.      Rich  men  do  not  usually  desire  to  dis- 
play their  wealth,  and  whether  from  parsimony  or  from 
fear  of  extortion  they  usually  live  in   a  style  that  hardly 
marks    them    out     from     their    poorer    neighbours.       Of 
course  there  are  exceptions  to  this  rule,  and  every  con- 
siderable   town    has    its    larger    houses,    sometimes    with 
gardens  attached  to  them,  which  are  the  residences  of  the 
richer  members  of  society. 


132         THE  SWA  TOW  MISSION  FIELD 

To  sum  up  briefly  the  social  condition  of  the  people, 
one  might  say  that  there  is  little  extreme  and  abject 
poverty  such  as  we  have  in  our  large  cities  at  home  ; 
but  a  very  large  proportion  of  society  consists  of  a  class 
of  poor  people  amongst  whom  comparatively  little  money 
is  in  use.  They  have  enough  to  live  upon  in  good  years, 
but  they  have  little  or  nothing  laid  by  against  sickness  or 
bad  harvests.  In  case  of  need  they  must  borrow,  and 
borrow  at  ruinous  rates  of  interest.  The  family  system  on 
which  Chinese  society  is  built  tends  to  keep  all  on  a 
somewhat  uniform  level.  Each  member  of  the  family 
earns  for  all,  not  for  himself,  and  this  tends  to  prevent 
individuals  either  from  frequently  becoming  rich,  or  on 
the  other  hand,  from  falling  very  low  in  the  social  scale. 
At  the  same  time  one  is  often  surprised  to  find  that  in 
poor  looking  villages  there  is  a  great  deal  more  wealth  in 
the  hands  of  the  people  than  one  would  have  supposed. 

With  regard  to  education,  you  will  often  read  that 
the  Chinese  as  a  whole  are  an  educated  people,  that 
there  is  a  school  in  every  village,  and  that  everyone  is 
taught  to  read.  Statements  of  this  kind  greatly  exag- 
gerate the  actual  condition  of  affairs.  It  is  true  that  in 
many  poor  villages  small  schools  will  be  found,  but  there 
are  very  many  in  which  there  is  none.  The  whole  school 
system  is  left  entirely  to  private  enterprise.  Usually 
when  it  is  desired  to  open  a  school  someone  undertakes 
to  act  as  patron.  He  invites  parents  to  give  in  the 
names  of  children  whom  they  will  send  to  school,  and 
for  whom  they  will  pay  a  small  amount  of  school 
fees.  He  then  arranges  with  a  professional  teacher 
to  come  and  live  in  the  village  on  a  small  salary,  which 
the  patron  himself  must  often  make  up  to  the  bare  mini- 
mum. Besides  the  promised  salary  and  fees,  which  often 
amount  to  not  more  than  £^  to  £4  per  annum,  the 
teacher  receives  presents  of  food  and  fuel  from  his  pupils, 
and   may  often  add  to  his   income   by  acting  as  letter- 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  133 

writer  for  the  village,  by  telling  fortunes,  by  writing  orna- 
mental scrolls  with  which  the  Chinese  delight  to  adorn 
their  houses,  and  if  he  has  ability  for  it,  by  writing 
petitions  or  complaints  for  presentation  to  the  mandarins 
in  lawsuits.  In  the  better  schools  the  teachers  are  often 
men  of  some  ability,  though  from  our  point  of  view  their 
education  is  of  the  narrowest.  But  the  village  school- 
master, especially  in  poor  districts,  is  often  extremely 
ignorant  and  inefficient,  even  when  estimated  by  the 
lowest  standard.  There  is  no  system  of  examination. 
Most  of  the  parents  are  too  ignorant  and  too  indifferent  to 
test  the  schoolmaster's  work,  and  the  patron  himself  is 
often  a  man  of  but  limited  education.  Even  a  good 
teacher  has  many  difficulties  to  contend  with.  The  boys, 
for  there  are  no  girls  in  these  schools,  either  sleep  in  the 
school  or  come  in  the  daytime  and  go  home  at  night,  but 
in  either  case  they  are  very  often  kept  from  school  by 
their  parents  to  help  in  farm  work,  or  picking  up  fuel,  or 
in  tending  the  buffaloes.  The  school  books  consist  only 
of  one  or  two  small  volumes  of  easy  rhymes  for  beginners, 
and  the  great  classical  books  which  are  the  foundation  of 
Chinese  literature.  The  child  is  thus  confronted  at  the 
outset  with  philosophical  and  moral  ideas  which  are 
utterly  beyond  his  comprehension,  and  indeed  the  teacher 
usually  makes  no  effort  to 'explain  their  meaning  to  his 
pupils.  I  have  examined  a  boy  who  had  been  ten  years 
in  a  non-Christian  Chinese  school,  and  found  that  while 
he  could  repeat  by  memory  with  fair  accuracy  consider- 
able portions  of  the  classical  books,  he  could  not  give  me 
in  his  own  vernacular  the  meaning  of  the  simplest  sen- 
tence. Here  and  there  are  found  more  advanced  schools 
where  a  scholar  who  has  taken  a  degree  acts  as  teacher, 
and  is  looked  up  to  by  the  country  round  with  great 
respect.  His  course  of  teaching  consists  chiefly  of  the 
correction  of  essays  and  compositions  which  his  pupils 
write  upon  themes  drawn  from  the  classical  books,  in  the 


1 3  4         THE  SWA  TOW  MISS/ON  FIELD 

style  of  those  which  are  required  for  competition  in  the 
Civil  Service  Examinations. 

These  examinations  represent  the  sole  stimulus  applied 
by  Government  to  the  furtherance  of  education.  In  every 
District  City  young  men  of  promise  who  have  taken  up 
literary  study  as  a  profession  may  present  themselves  for 
examination  every  year.  The  successful  candidates  have 
their  names  entered  in  the  books  of  the  district,  and  may 
in  turn  present  themselves  for  a  higher  examination  with 
a  view  to  gaining  the  first  degree.  This  degree,  which  is 
described  as  "  cultivated  ability,"  does  not  confer  any  official 
standing  or  post,  but  it  is  a  much  coveted  honour.  These 
graduates  present  themselves  yearly  at  the  Prefectural  cities 
of  their  native  district,  partly  with  a  view  to  the  retention 
of  their  degree,  which  may  be  lost  by  non-attendance,  and 
partly  for  competitions  before  an  Imperial  Commissioner  for 
the  degree  next  higher  in  rank,  that  of  "  elevated  men." 
Graduates  who  reach  this  position  may  be  regarded  as 
having  their  foot  on  the  ladder  of  official  promotion. 
They  may  have  to  wait  long  for  an  appointment,  and 
when  it  is  found  they  must  pay  heavily  for  the  enjoyment 
of  it,  but  when  they  have  once  "  entered  the  tide,"  as  the 
Chinese  say,  the  highest  positions  in  the  State  are  open  to 
those  who  have  either  abilities,  wealth  or  social  influence 
sufficient  to  carry  them  forward.  Of  these  three  con- 
ditions of  success,  wealth  is,  unhappily,  by  far  the  most 
influential. 

Throughout  the  whole  Empire  this  system  of  graded 
examinations  is  carried  on,  and  the  theory  is  that  by 
means  of  it  a  constant  succession  of  men  of  ability  is 
drawn  from  among  the  common  people  to  fill  positions  of 
trust  in  the  service  of  the  Empire.  Unfortunately, 
theory  and  practice  are  widely  apart.  It  is  a  frequent 
complaint  of  literary  men  that  degrees  are  sold  by  the 
presiding  mandarins  before  they  enter  the  hall  of  competi- 
tion.    The  area  of  subjects  covered  by  these  examinations 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  135 

is  very  limited,  but  within  those  limits  the  struggle  is 
extremely  keen.  For  example,  in  each  provincial  city,  at 
examinations  which  are  held  in  two  years  out  of  three, 
there  may  be  as  many  as  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand 
candidates  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  province.  For 
all  these  there  may  be  less  than  one  hundred  degrees  to 
be  bestowed.  The  examination  is  divided  into  three 
bouts,  each  of  which  lasts,  as  the  Chinese  say,  "  for  three 
days  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  candidates  enter  the  examination 
hall  at  sundown  on  one  day  and  are  secluded  there  until 
sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  third  day.  After  a  few 
days'  interval  they  enter  again  for  another  similar  period, 
and  after  a  second  interval  for  a  third.  After  undergoing 
the  severe  strain  of  these  three  examinations  they  may 
also  enter  for  various  supplementary  competitions.  At 
every  such  examination  some  of  the  students  die  in  the 
examination  hall  under  the  severity  of  the  mental  and 
physical  strain.  Each  man  is  allowed  to  carry  in  a  small 
basket  of  food  on  entering,  and  there  are  cooks  supplied 
by  the  officials,  who  cook  for  the  candidates  and  the 
examiners  in  charge,  but  during  the  days  of  competition 
no  ^intercourse  is  allowed  with  the  outside  world.  The 
severity  of  these  examinations  gives  rise  to  many  super- 
stitious stories.  It  is  firmly  believed  that  the  examination 
halls  are  haunted  by  malignant  demons  ;  and  it  is  said  that 
if  a  bad  man  enters  the  hall,  when  he  attempts  to  write 
his  essay  he  is  taken  possession  of  by  one  of  these 
demons,  who  first  compels  him  to  write  out  a  confession 
of  his  crimes,  and  then  puts  him  to  death.  But  this  story 
lies  open  to  doubt.  If  it  were  true,  deaths  under  examina- 
tion would  be  more  numerous  than  they  are. 

Education  is  said  to  be  more  advanced  among  the 
Hak-kas  than  among  the  Hok-los.  One  reason  for  this  is 
that  in  the  Hok-lo  country  the  women,  who  by  a  strange 
custom  of  old  standing  habitually  bind  and  crush  their 
feet,  take   no   part   in   field  work.     They  may  totter  on 


1 36  THE  S  WA  TO  W  MISSION  FIELD 

their  crushed  feet  to  the  side  of  the  village  pond,  or  to  a 
river  flowing  near  by,  to  wash  their  clothes,  and  often  help 
in  turning  over  the  grain  that  is  being  dried  at  their  doors, 
but  they  very  seldom  go  any  distance  from  their  homes. 
In  the  Hak-ka  country,  on  the  other  hand,  this  custom 
hardly  exists,  and  the  women  take  a  large  part  in  field 
work.  They  even  go  up  to  the  mountains  to  cut  grass 
and  sticks  for  fuel,  and  carry  down  heavy  burdens  upon 
their  backs.  The  men,  of  course,  share  in  the  field  work, 
but  in  a  Hak-ka  village  you  may  often  see  a  number  of 
men  idling  about,  clothed  in  long  blue  calico  robes,  and 
smoking  long  pipes,  while  the  bulk  of  the  hard  work  is 
done  by  the  women.  At  the  same  time  the  Hak-kas  are 
an  energetic  though  turbulent  race,  and  in  the  Canton 
province  they  have,  from  the  time  of  the  Tai-ping  rebellion 
to  the  present  day,  been  the  leaders  in  most  revolutionary 
movements. 

In  the  large  towns,  especially  on  the  principal  trade 
routes  or  on  the  sea  coast,  there  is  a  large  mercantile 
class.  They  are  men  of  wider  outlook  than  the  farmers 
of  the  country,  and  although  not  educated  like  the  pro- 
fessed literary  class,  they  are  often  men  of  far  greater  mental 
vigour  and  intelligence.  They  are  extremely  competent 
men  of  business,  well  able  to  carry  out  the  largest  under- 
takings. The  European  merchants  at  the  open  ports 
find  them  formidable  competitors.  They  have  unwearied 
patience  for  details,  and  a  quick  eye  to  small  profits, 
while,  when  occasion  calls  for  it,  they  can  act  generously, 
and  deal  on  the  most  liberal  scale.  The  purchase  and 
sale  of  rice  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  kinds  of  business, 
and  shops  and  warehouses  for  the  sale  of  cloth,  shoes  and 
other  manufactured  articles,  as  well  as  a  vast  variety  of 
medicines  of  the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia,  occupy  the  prin- 
cipal streets  of  the  towns.  Many  merchants  from  the 
Swatow  district  go  abroad  to  push  their  business,  and  are 
among  the  most  successful  merchants  in  distant  ports  in 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE  137 

China,  such  as  Tien-tsin  and  New-chwang,  as  well  as  in 
Singapore  and  the  Straits  Settlements. 

I  cannot  put  before  you  with  any  fulness  the  complex 
social  life  of  the  Chinese  people,  but  from  this  slight 
sketch  you  will  be  able  to  picture  to  yourselves  a  hard- 
working, industrious  and  skilful  people,  who  have  made  no 
little  progress  in  all  the  more  essential  arts  of  life,  and 
have  been  able  to  build  up,  over  the  wide  territory  which 
they  occupy,  a  vast  social  fabric.  We  wonder  at  their 
exclusiveness,  and  the  little  desire  they  have  shown  for 
intercourse  with  other  countries,  but  we  are  apt  to  forget 
that  China,  stretching  from  regions  of  almost  Arctic  cold  far 
down  into  the  Tropics,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
west  to  the  great  table-lands  of  Central  Asia,  presents 
such  a  variety  of  wealth,  and  natural  possessions  and  pro- 
ducts, as  to  render  its  people  almost  independent  of  the 
outside  world.  It  is  no  wonder  that  they  were  not  at 
once  prepared  to  believe  that  they  had  much  to  learn 
from  the  despised  foreigners  who,  during  the  present 
century,  have  been  breaking  through  the  barriers  of  their 
exclusiveness. 

The  first  experience  which  the  Chinese  had  of  foreign 
intercourse  on  an  extended  scale  was  in  connection  with 
the  opium  trade,  and  they  had  only  too  good  reason  to 
dread  the  advent  of  foreigners  bringing  gifts  which  were 
destined,  and,  as  they  supposed,  intended  to  work  desola- 
tion among  their  people.  Of  course  they  were  wrong  in 
the  arrogant  methods  which  they  took  to  repel  their 
unwelcome  visitors.  But  they  were  not  wrong  in  the 
inference  which  they  drew,  that  to  some  of  the  foreign 
merchants  who  came  to  their  shores,  supported  by  their 
Government,  gain  was  more  than  righteousness.  It  is 
under  that  disgraceful  stigma  that  we  approach  them,  to 
preach  to  them  the  Gospel  of  purity,  justice  and  peace, 
and  it  is  no  wonder  if  our  attitude  is  to  them  hard  to 
comprehend. 


138         THE  SWA  TOW  MISSION  FIELD 

I  have  now  given  a  slight  sketch  of  the  Chinese  people 
— their  religion  and  literature,  their  industry  and  manners. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  convey  in  words  the  sharp  impres- 
sion which  is  made  upon  one's  mind  by  one's  first  day 
among  them.  It  is  deepened  by  the  experience  of  after 
years,  but  can  never  be  effaced. 

Imagine  yourself,  then,  in  presence  of  this  great  con- 
solidated mass  of  human  life,  with  its  ancient  civilisation, 
philosophy  and  religion  for  background,  and  its  intense  and 
varied  activity  surging  around  you.  Suppose  yourself  to 
have  in  some  way  acquired  their  language,  and  found  your 
way  among  these  millions  of  intelligent,  industrious,  pre- 
judiced and  superstitious,  but  not  unfriendly  souls.  How 
shall  you  gain  their  ear  and  reach  their  minds  ?  How 
shall  you  commend  to  them  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ? 
How  shall  you  give  them  the  spiritual  insight  and  the 
moral  courage  to  break  off  from  their  environment  and  at 
all  risks  follow  Him  ? 

That  is  the  first  problem  which  faces  the  missionary  on 
the  threshold  of  his  work. 


LECTURE  VI 

THE    FIRST    STAGE    OF    MISSION    WORK  :    EVANGELISTIC 
PREACHING 

If  you  have  followed  with  attention  the  outline  of  the 
religious  condition  of  the  Chinese  people  which  I  have 
put  before  you,  you  must  feel  how  incomplete  and  unsatis- 
factory it  has  been.  A  few  facts  have  been  given  and  a 
few  thoughts  suggested,  but  you  must  still  feel  that  I  have 
left  many  great  questions  untouched,  and  have  not  been 
able  to  give  a  systematised  account  or  rational  explana- 
tion of  the  religious  rites  and  observances  of  the  people. 
Of  this  I  am  fully  aware,  and  can  only  plead,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  the  subject  is  too  large  to  be  covered  by 
anyone's  observations,  and,  still  more,  is  too  large  for  the 
narrow  limits  of  these  lectures.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
may  claim  that  the  more  mixed  and  confused  the  im- 
pressions I  have  given  you  are,  the  more  truly  do  they 
reflect  the  actual  condition  of  things.  Popular  religion  in 
China  is  a  confused  mingling  of  unreconciled  if  not  ir- 
reconcilable creeds,  rites,  and  superstitions,  with  a  few 
great  and  worthy  foundation  thoughts  in  religion  and 
ethics  which  underlie  the  whole.  But  these  thoughts  do 
not  underlie  the  popular  religion  as  its  controlling  and 
justifying  ideas.  They  lie  there  rather  like  the  buried 
foundation  stones  which  testify  to  the  former  glory  of 
some  great  city,  but  which  have  long  been  hidden  from 
view  by  the  accumulated  debris  of  brick  and  mud  which 
later  centuries  have  heaped  upon  them. 

The  missionary  who  goes  among  the  Chinese  people 
hoping  to  find  the  nearly  pure  monotheism  and  austere 

«39 


140     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

morality  of  Confucianism,  the  gentleness  and  self-scrutiny 
of  Buddhism,  or  the  metaphysical  superiority  and  contempt 
of  the  world  of  Taoism,  inspiring  the  religion  and  elevating 
the  thoughts  of  the  people  around  him,  is  doomed  to  many 
disappointments. 

You  go  to  a  District  City  and  ask  for  the  Confucian 
temple.  Its  wide  courts  and  the  distinctive  red  colour  of 
its  walls  give  it  a  certain  aspect  of  grandeur,  and  you 
hope  to  see  there  Chinese  religion  at  its  best.  You  find 
on  the  doorsteps  some  boys  drying  rice  and  garlic  or 
bunches  of  incense  sticks,  and  the  doors  are  locked. 
Someone  is  at  last  persuaded  to  find  the  door-keeper, 
and  a  small  gratuity  induces  him  to  open  the  doors. 
The  tablet  of  Confucius  stands  in  the  great  hall,  and 
those  of  his  disciples  are  duly  ranged  in  the  side  build- 
ings, as  you  have  read  in  books,  but  there  are  no  wor- 
shippers. The  temple  is  in  disrepair ;  the  grass  grows 
green  in  the  courts  ;  the  bats  occupy  the  great  halls, 
and  you  are  glad  to  escape  from  the  fetid  odours  of  the 
place. 

You  inquire  for  a  Buddhist  temple,  and  are  taken  to 
the  Khai-ngam  Ji.  You  pass  two  hideous  plaster  figures 
which  guard  the  outer  doorway.  You  thread  your  way 
through  a  crowd  of  fortune-tellers,  sellers  of  quack  medi- 
cines, professional  beggars,  idlers,  and  itinerant  sellers  of 
cooked  rice,  sausages,  soups,  and  cooling  drinks,  and  reach 
at  last  a  side  door  to  the  main  temple.  You  find  your- 
self in  a  hall  of  imposing  dimensions,  with  three  great 
gilded  images  in  the  place  of  honour,  and  the  eighteen 
Lo-han  ranged  on  either  side.  On  the  table  before  the 
idols  incense  is  burning.  At  one  side  hangs  a  great 
bronze  bell.  On  the  floor  are  small  straw  mats  on  which 
worshippers  may  kneel,  but  the  worshippers  are  not  there. 
The  roof  beams  are  hung  with  votive  lanterns  and  other 
offerings.  The  pillars  are  inscribed  with  elegant  sentences 
in  praise  of  Buddha  and   his  manifestations,  or  setting 


EVANGELISTIC  PREACHING  141 

forth  that  purity  and  sincerity  of  heart  are  the  conditions 
of  acceptable  worship.  You  are  touched,  perhaps,  by 
some  noble  words  inscribed  in  large  gilded  letters  on 
black  lacquered  boards — "  The  grace  of  Buddha  shines 
afar,"  "  Dwelling  on  high  he  hears  the  lowly," — and  you 
begin  to  hope  for  some  sign  of  genuine  religious  life  or 
emotion  to  reward  your  search.  Just  then  the  spell  is 
broken.  The  priest  shuffles  up  to  you  with  sallow, 
sensual  face,  and  offers  tea.  You  accept  the  courtesy, 
and  a  subscription  book  is  handed  to  you  and  he  asks  for 
an  offering.  You  explain  that  you  cannot  offer  for  the 
temple  worship,  but  will  give  him  a  gratuity  for  any 
trouble  you  may  have  caused.  You  take  the  oppor- 
tunity to  inquire  about  his  gods  and  his  beliefs,  but  the 
subject  does  not  interest  him,  and  his  only  point  is  to 
beg  for  a  larger  gratuity.  All  you  can  learn  by  inquiries 
about  the  meaning  of  the  images  and  the  worship  offered 
to  them  is  that  he  knows  little  and  cares  less,  either 
about  the  founder  of  his  religion,  or  about  the  great  ideas 
of  the  Buddhist  faith.  One  is  glad  to  escape  from  the 
importunities  of  the  priest  and  his  colleagues,  and  to  be 
out  again  among  the  beggars  and  the  gamblers.  There 
is  no  inspiration  in  the  Khai-ngam  Ji. 

It  is  the  same  in  the  Taoist  temples  of  the  "  City 
Guardian"  ;  of  Kwan  Ti,  the  god  of  war  ;  of  Wen-chhang, 
the  god  of  literature  ;  and  the  same  in  the  temple  of 
Han  Yii,  the  famous  scholar  of  the  ninth  century,  whose 
temple  must  be  classed  as  Confucian,  although  the  worship 
offered  in  it  is  essentially  opposed  to  the  teachings  of 
Confucius.  Formalism,  neglect,  and  superstition  are  to 
be  found  in  abundance,  but  religion  nowhere. 

One  turns  to  the  country,  hoping  to  find  more  sim- 
plicity and  possibly  more  earnestness.  One  has  read 
somewhere  the  encouraging  words  of  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  : 
"  Forests  of  flowers  are  daily  laid  upon  his  stainless 
shrines,   and  countless  millions  of  lips   daily  repeat  the 


142     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

formula,  *  I  take  refuge  in  Buddha,' "  but  when  one  turns 
from  fancy  to  fact,  what  is  the  picture?  What  meets 
the  eye  in  a  village  temple  ?  A  cobwebbed  image  and  a 
tattered  shrine  in  the  care  of  an  ignorant  and  idle  priest. 
Here  a  filthy  table,  grimy  with  the  ill-cleansed  remains  of 
many  a  bygone  meal  ;  there  a  half-finished  idol,  marred  in 
the  making  and  left  to  rot ;  a  flower,  but  with  no  sweetness 
of  spring  showers  nor  glory  of  summer  skies  in  it,  only 
a  withered  stem  stuck  in  the  cold  ashes  that  fill  the 
incense  pot  in  the  inmost  shrine — fit  emblem  of  a  heart- 
less worship  and  a  joyless  faith.  On  the  outer  table 
before  the  idol  reposes  a  half-starved  cat,  stretched  list- 
lessly on  the  larger  incense  vessel,  its  bed  consisting  of  a 
few  of  the  Buddhist  tracts  which,  as  an  act  of  merit,  are 
provided  for  free  distribution  by  the  more  zealous  and 
wealthy  worshippers.  These  tracts,  soiled  by  the  in- 
cense and  crushed  in  the  cat's  lair,  strangely  discredit  the 
favourite  Buddhist  injunction,  "  Show  reverential  regard  to 
the  printed  page." 

Such  is  the  aspect  of  Chinese  religion  as  it  shows  itself 
to  the  explorer  of  the  popular  temples ;  but  still  one 
hopes  that  there  may  be  special  times  of  worship  when 
the  people  are  roused  to  more  interest  in  their  gods,  and 
when  one  may  see  more  active  and  stirring  ceremonial. 
On  a  journey  and  passing  near  a  village,  one  sometimes 
sees  large  numbers  of  people  gathering  from  all  quarters. 
All  are  dressed  in  their  best,  and  hurry  along  the  roads 
in  family  parties,  men,  women  and  children,  laughing  and 
talking  as  they  go.  Some  carry  baskets  of  food,  and 
many  of  the  women  are  carrying  wooden  stools.  On 
inquiry,  one  finds  that  it  is  the  birthday  of  some  local  idol, 
or  that  for  some  other  local  reason  a  special  celebration  is 
being  held.  On  going  into  the  village  you  find  the  open 
space  in  front  of  the  principal  temple  occupied  by  a  busy 
throng  of  people,  but  presently  you  discover  that  the 
temple    is    not    the    centre    of   interest,   but    a   platform 


EVANGELISTIC  PREACHING  143 

erected  opposite  to  it  The  people  are  preparing  for 
what  is  by  far  the  most  popular  form  of  worship.  They 
are  giving  a  play  in  honour  of  the  idol,  and  the  platform 
is  the  stage,  set  up  opposite  to  the  temple  so  that  the  idol 
may  view  the  performance.  The  people  of  the  village 
and  crowds  of  their  friends  from  the  country  round  about 
have  gathered  for  the  festival,  which  may  last  for  two  or 
three  days.  They  stand  or  sit,  packed  closely  together, 
through  the  long  acts  and  the  clamorous  music  of  the 
play.  During  the  day  a  great  deal  of  rough  amusement 
goes  on,  feasting,  gambling  and  whisky  drinking,  with 
grosser  orgies  after  nightfall,  making  these  plays  the  one 
great  amusement  of  the  Chinese  people  ;  and  here  you 
have  found  at  last  their  really  popular  religion. 

Stage  plays  and  processions  in  honour  of  the  idols 
both  afford  amusement  to  old  and  young,  and  also  supply 
a  field  of  rivalry  in  display  in  which  neighbouring  villages 
carry  on  from  year  to  year  a  keen  competition.  On 
these  celebrations  enormous  sums  of  money  are  annually 
spent  by  people  who  have  no  other  luxuries,  and  often 
can  but  barely  provide  the  necessaries  of  life. 

In  short,  popular  religion  in  the  sense  of  united  worship 
is  practically  a  thing  unknown,  and  religion  supplies 
nothing  either  to  stimulate  thought  or  to  guide  and 
strengthen  morality.  Now  let  me  ask  you  to  present  to 
yourselves  this  problem.  With  such  information  as  one 
can  gather  from  Western  books,  and  such  vague  impres- 
sions of  Chinese  religion  as  present  themselves  to  the  eye, 
how  is  the  missionary  to  begin  to  address  himself  to  the 
problem  of  bringing  to  these  people  some  understanding 
of  a  new  faith  ?  Suppose  yourself  landing  from  a  steamer 
at  Swatow.  You  find  yourself  in  a  busy  centre  of  trade, 
amid  crowds  of  men  who  are  busily  loading  and  unload- 
ing the  steamers  which  convey  products  to  and  from 
foreign  markets  or  from  distant  Chinese  ports.  You 
pass   further  into   the  country  and    find   everywhere  the 


144    THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

busy,  energetic  multitudinous  life  which  I  have  slightly 
sketched.  Of  course  you  may  assume  that  the  mis- 
sionary's first  task  is  to  learn  the  language  of  the  people  ; 
but  suppose  for  the  present  that  this  has  been  to  some 
extent  done.  How  is  he  to  put  himself  in  touch  with 
them  ?  What  ideas  has  he  in  common  with  them,  and 
what  elements  of  the  Christian  faith  are  most  likely  to 
reach  their  understandings  or  to  touch  their  consciences  ? 
The  problem  now  is  not  the  same  as  it  was  when  mission 
work  in  China  was  in  its  beginnings.  Then  foreigners 
were  hardly  known,  or  were  known  only  to  be  hated  and 
despised.  It  may  give  some  idea  of  what  the  beginnings 
of  mission  work  really  are  if  I  give  you  some  account  of 
the  experiences  of  the  first  missionary  in  the  Swatow 
district,  and  show  how  these  prepared  the  way  for  the 
beginnings  of  our  own   mission. 

Many  centuries  have  gone  by  since  Christianity  in  one 
form  or  another  first  reached  Chinese  soil.  The  Nestorians 
preached  their  own  version  of  Christianity  in  China  some- 
where in  the  sixth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The 
Roman  Catholics,  chiefly  through  the  Jesuit  Missions, 
began  work  in  China  in  the  sixteenth  century.  From  the 
teaching  of  the  latter  a  few  words  of  Christian  teaching 
have  reached  the  ears  of  not  a  few  of  the  Chinese,  but 
Protestant  missions  in  China  began  only  in  1807,  when 
the  London  Missionary  Society  sent  Robert  Morrison  to 
Canton.  In  the  Swatow  district  the  first  attempts  at 
evangelisation  were  made  by  Rudolph  Lechler,  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  Basle  Missionary  Society,  who,  after  fifty- 
two  years  of  hard  work  in  China,  is  still  labouring  among 
the  stations  of  the  German  mission  in  the  hill  country  of 
the  Hak-kas  in  the  district  of  Hin-ning. 

On  the  17th  May  1848,  accompanied  by  three  Chinese 
helpers  and  a  servant,  Mr  Lechler  sailed  from  Hong-Kong. 
His  first  destination  was  the  island  of  Namoa,  lying  off 
the  sea  coast  in  the  Tie-chiu  prefecture.    Sailing  in  a  north- 


EVANGELISTIC  PREACHING  145 

easterly  direction  they  reached  Namoa  in  six  days,  where 
they  found  two  European  vessels,  engaged  in  smuggling 
cargoes  of  opium,  anchored  near  the  shore.  Mr  Lechler 
was  provided  with  a  letter  of  credit  to  the  captain  of  one 
of  these  vessels,  and  was  allowed  to  live  on  board  the  ship 
till  he  could  find  a  lodging  on  the  island. 

In  this  way  Mr  Lechler  found  a  strange  resting-place 
from  which  to  begin  his  evangelistic  work.  His  native 
companions  after  a  time  found  a  lodging  for  him  in  a 
village  on  shore,  but  in  a  very  short  time  the  owner  of  his 
lodging  was  summoned  before  the  authorities  and  com- 
manded to  see  to  it  that  Mr  Lechler  should  leave  at  once. 
In  another  town  he  found  a  Chinaman  whose  acquaintance 
he  had  made  in  Hongkong,  and  who  had  been  baptised 
there  by  another  German  missionary  named  Gutzlaff. 
But  Mr  Lechler  found  him  still  worshipping  the  god  of 
war,  and  showing  no  trace  of  what  he  had  learned  of 
Christianity.  His  son  was  a  leper  who  had  accompanied 
his  father  on  a  visit  to  Hongkong,  and  had  possessed 
himself  of  a  New  Testament  and  various  Christian  tracts. 
Mr  Lechler  found  him  still  reading  them,  and  recognised 
in  him  an  upright  inquiring  soul.  The  father,  however, 
would  give  the  missionary  no  encouragement,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  island,  though  a  year  later  he  was 
privileged  to  baptise  the  leper  lad. 

For  some  weeks  Mr  Lechler  moved  about  from  place 
to  place  in  the  island.  During  that  time  he  met  another 
man  who  had  been  baptised  in  Hongkong  by  Dr  Gutzlaff, 
but  was  now  busily  occupied  in  the  opium  trade.  He 
confessed  with  shame  that  he  had  made  a  Christian  pro- 
fession and  had  been  warned  by  Gutzlaff  to  give  up  his 
discreditable  occupation.  This,  however,  he  had  failed  to 
do,  but  he  was  willing  to  assist  Mr  Lechler  by  all  the 
means  in  his  power.  In  his  company  the  missionary 
sailed  for  the  city  of  Chao-chow-foo.  He  found  the 
country  through  which  he  passed  in  a  boat  on  the  river 

K 


146    THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

very  attractive.     Townships  of  ten  or  twenty  thousand  in- 
habitants lay  in  the  plain.     The  country  was  everywhere 
well  cultivated,  and  after  twelve  hours  spent  in  ascending 
the  river  they  reached  the  Chinaman's  home.    Mr  Lechler 
was  clad  in  the  Chinese  dress,  had  the  front  part  of  his 
head  shaved,  and  was  wearing   a   cue.     A  pair  of  large 
spectacles  concealed  his  blue  eyes.     Following  his  guide, 
Mr  Lechler  found  himself  quietly  settled  in  his  new  home. 
At  two  hours'  distance  from   the  city,  in  the  market 
town  of  Tng-ou,  Mr  Lechler's  Chinese  friend  prepared  a 
room  for  him,  and  from  time  to  time  he  visited  his  host's 
friends  and  gave  them  some  instruction  in  Christian  truth. 
After  a  time  his  Chinese  teacher  and  one  or  two  catechists 
who  had  left  him  ventured  to  return,  and  he  began  to  pay 
visits  to  the  neighbouring  villages.      One  of  his  assistants 
had  his  home  originally  in  the  village  of  Thien-kang,  and 
there  also  lived  another  of  the  nominal  converts  who  had 
received  some  Christian  teaching  from  Gutzlaff.     Through 
the  efforts  of  these  two  men  a  little  company  of  eleven 
persons,  farmers,  tradesmen,  fishermen,  and  literary  men, 
began  to  gather  together  to  read  the  Word  of  God  and 
hear  it  explained.      They  visited   Mr  Lechler  in  Tng-ou, 
and  he  in  consequence  went  to  Thien-kang  to  make  him- 
self better  acquainted  with  their  character  and   motives. 
Very  shortly  after,   Mr   Lechler,  feeling  the  difficulty  of 
dealing  alone  with  applicants  for  baptism,  went  to  visit 
Hongkong  and  confer  with  his  colleagues  there.     They 
agreed  upon  certain  rules  by  which  they  were  all  to  be 
guided  in  their  several  spheres  of  mission  work.      On  Mr 
Lechler's  return  to  Tie-chiu  he  found  that  one  of  the  opium 
ship  captains  had  got  into  difficulties  with  the  Chinese 
authorities,  in  making  an  excursion  up  the  river  in  his 
ship's  boat.      His   Chinese  boat's   crew  were  seized   and 
cast  into  prison,  where  they  were  kept  for  several  years. 
This  incident  made  it  impossible  for  Mr  Lechler  to  reside 
in  Tng-ou  or  Thien-kang.      After  a  few  days'  residence  in 


EVANGELISTIC  PREACHING  147 

the  latter  place  he  was  obliged  to  leave  it  and  again  take 
refuge  in  Namoa,  where  he  lived  for  three  months.  Early 
in  the  following  year  he  found  a  new  home  in  a  house 
which  he  rented  in  the  village  of  lam-tsau  or  "  Salt  Pans." 
A  wealthy  man  in  the  village  had  become  an  opium- 
smoker,  and  in  consequence  had  gone  through  his  property 
and  ruined  himself  One  large  house  remained  in  the 
possession  of  the  widow  and  her  sons,  and  they  let  a  por- 
tion of  this  to  Mr  Lechler.  In  one  of  these  rooms  Lechler 
began  holding  morning  and  evening  worship  with  his  own 
followers,  and  also  conducted  public  worship  on  the  Lord's 
Day.  The  widow  and  her  sons  were  very  kind  to  Lechler 
and  those  who  were  with  him,  and  he  was  able  to  repay 
their  kindness  by  some  little  attentions  in  providing  medi- 
cines in  time  of  sickness.  His  relations  with  the  leading 
men  of  the  village  were  friendly,  and  he  was  able  to  assist 
them  in  negotiating  for  peace  with  a  neighbouring  village 
with  which  they  had  been  at  feud.  The  people  of  the 
village  could  not  understand  what  Lechler's  object  was  in 
coming  to  live  among  them.  They  noticed  that  he  did 
not  attend  their  theatres  or  other  places  of  pleasure,  and 
they  began  to  conclude  that  he  was  endeavouring  to 
"  become  a  holy  man,"  and  doing  good  works  in  the  hope 
of  meriting  heaven.  He  gradually  extended  his  preaching 
tours,  and  was  surprised  to  find  that  wherever  he  went  in 
the  villages  he  could  easily  gather  large  audiences  of 
attentive  hearers.  On  one  of  these  journeys  he  visited  the 
Island  of  Namoa,  and  there  baptised  the  leper  whose 
acquaintance  he  had  made  on  his  first  arrival  there.  He 
also  visited  Thien-kang,  and  there  baptised  five  of  those 
who  had  formerly  sought  baptism  at  his  hands.  In  lam- 
tsau  itself  some  thirteen  Chinese  in  all  were  baptised. 

The  assistants  who  accompanied  Mr  Lechler  on  those 
journeys  had  been  provided  for  him  by  Dr  Gutzlaff,  but 
most  of  them  proved  to  be  men  of  most  unsatisfactory 
character.     Several  left  him,  and  others  he  was  obliged 


148     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

to  dismiss.  Other  trying  and  disappointing  experiences 
made  Mr  Lechler's  residence  in  lam-tsau  a  time  of  great 
grief,  and  he  finally  left  it  with  the  belief  that  little  or 
nothing  had  been  accomplished.  He  had  prepared  a 
manuscript  dictionary  which  was  afterwards  of  service 
to  other  missionaries,  but  some  of  the  Christians  of  whom 
he  had  been  most  hopeful  seem  to  have  given  up  their 
Christian  profession,  and  some  had  fallen  back  into 
heathenism.  In  February  1852,  the  Chinese  authorities 
issued  an  order  for  his  removal,  and,  although  he  him- 
self was  willing  to  take  the  risks  of  remaining,  the  people 
of  the  village  were  brought  into  great  difficulties  by  his 
presence  amongst  them,  and  entreated  him  to  leave. 

After  a  short  stoppage  in  Namoa  he  returned  to  Hong- 
kong, and  along  with  Mr  Hamberg  of  the  same  mission, 
he  arranged  to  begin  work,  from  Hongkong  as  a  centre, 
among  the  Hak-ka  people.  He  had  begun  to  make  some 
progress  in  the  new  dialect  when  he  received  a  message 
from  Basel  urging  him  to  be  strong  in  faith  on  the 
promise  of  God,  and  return  to  the  little  congregation 
at  lam-tsau,  and  resume  his  work  there.  He  accordingly 
returned  for  a  short  time  to  the  village  of  lam-tsau,  but 
found  little  to  encourage  him.  He  finally  decided  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  leave  and  help  Hamberg  in  pushing  on 
the  more  hopeful  work  among  the  Hak-ka  people. 

During  the  five  years  of  his  residence  among  the 
Hok-lo  Chinese  he  had  visited  about  200  of  their  villages, 
preaching  and  teaching  wherever  he  went.  And  so  ended 
the  first  chapter  of  mission  history  in  Tie-chiu. 

I  have  given  these  experiences  of  Mr  Lechler  in  some 
detail  as  an  instance  of  what  actually  takes  place  in  the 
earliest  days  of  mission  work.  They  also  illustrate  how 
openings  are  made,  in  the  providence  of  God,  for  the 
entrance  of  the  Gospel.  Mr  Lechler,  in  beginning  work, 
was  led  by  various  circumstances  of  a  very  mixed  kind. 
His  first  home  was  on  board  a  ship  engaged  in  illegally 


EVANGELISTIC  PREACHING  149 

smuggling  opium.  No  missionary  of  course  would  choose 
to  make  his  first  appearance  amongst  a  people  whom  he 
wished  to  gain  in  such  a  connection.  Again,  he  was 
assisted  by  nominal  Christians  connected  with  Gutzlaff. 
Gutzlaff  was  himself  an  earnest  and  zealous  Christian 
man,  but  greatly  lacked  discretion,  and  allowed  himself 
to  be  too  easily  deceived  by  professing  Christians.  Liv- 
ing in  Hongkong,  he  employed  a  number  of  native 
evangelists,  whom  he  sent,  as  he  believed,  into  various 
provinces  of  China  to  preach,  and  come  back  after  long 
absences  to  report  their  experiences.  On  these  occasions 
they  often  brought  with  them  men  whom  they  described 
as  anxious  inquirers  from  different  parts  of  the  Empire. 
Gutzlaff  also  sought  by  the  help  of  these  men  to  circulate 
the  Scriptures,  and  when  they  came  to  him  for  instruction 
he  often  put  into  their  hands  considerable  quantities  of 
these  books.  Afterwards,  however,  when  the  work  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Hamberg,  he  discovered  that  those  so- 
called  catechists  were  for  the  most  part  deceivers  who 
had  spent  their  time  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong, 
employed  about  their  own  affairs  ;  and,  manufacturing 
reports  for  Gutzlaff,  induced  some  of  their  friends  to  visit 
him  along  with  them,  and  to  be  passed  off  as  converts 
from  distant  regions.  The  books  which  were  intrusted 
to  them  they  sold  to  the  printer,  and  the  printer  in  turn 
re-sold  them  once  more  to  Dr  Gutzlaff  So  Gutzlaff  and 
the  printer  maintained  between  them  a  continuous  "  cir- 
culation "  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  methods  of  work  and  its  results  were  alike  worth- 
less, and  yet  some  of  those  men  who  thus  came  in 
contact  with  Christianity  were  afterwards  helpful  to  Mr 
Lechler  in  his  better  advised  efforts.  It  is  not  a  little 
remarkable  that  attempts  so  mistaken  and  unsatisfactory 
as  those  of  Gutzlaff  were  yet  serving  some  purpose  in 
preparing  the  way  for  better  work  in  later  years.  Here 
and    there  also    Lechler  met   with   individuals  who   had 


150    THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

already  in  some  way  gained  some  little  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  and  were  thereby  prepared  to  listen  to  his  message. 

One  is  too  apt  to  forget  that  God  in  His  providence 
has  many  ways  of  reaching  men,  and  that  the  missionary 
who  begins  work  in  even  the  newest  fields  may  find  that 
in  unthought-of  ways  some  preparation  has  already  been 
made  for  him. 

'  Evangelistic  work  has  been  carried  on  in  different  parts 
of  China  by  very  different  methods.  In  some  of  the  large 
cities,  such  as  Canton,  Hankow  and  Pekin,  Chinese  houses 
or  shops  have  been  rented  on  some  of  the  principal 
streets,  and  thrown  open  as  preaching  halls  by  natives 
and  foreigners.  The  Gospel  has  been  preached  in  such 
places  day  after  day  for  years  and  decades,  and  though 
often  there  has  been  little  visible  result,  some  knowledge 
of  the  Gospel  has  in  this  way  been  spread  far  and  wide. 
It  has  often  been  carried  by  the  hearers  to  distant  points 
which  no  missionary  has  reached.  In  the  work  of  our 
own  mission  a  different  method  was  usually  employed. 
The  missionaries  in  travelling  from  place  to  place  sought 
opportunities  by  the  wayside,  in  market  towns  or  villages, 
and  less  frequently  in  the  large  cities,  for  preaching  to 
those  who  gathered  about  them,  and  this  work  is  still 
extensively  carried  on. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  in  a  non-Christian  country 
like  China,  under  a  strict  despotism,  with  the  strong 
prejudice  against  foreigners,  and  a  keen  desire  to  restrict 
in  every  way  their  intercourse  with  the  people,  there  has 
yet  been  such  entire  freedom  for  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  We  have  been  free  to  stand  up  anywhere  and 
preach  to  all  who  choose  to  listen,  and  now  the  door  is 
more  widely  open  than  ever  for  such  work.  Tie-chiu  is 
an  ideal  field  for  the  evangelistic  missionary.  Busy 
towns  and  large  villages  are  so  thickly  planted  over  the 
country  that  he  need  never  travel  far  without  finding 
ample  room  and  opportunity  for  evangelistic  preaching. 


E  VANGELIS  TIC  PRE  A  CHING  i  5  i 

The  agricultural  people  seem  to  be  naturally  more  open- 
minded  than  those  of  the  cities,  and  their  work  absorbs 
their  attention  less  closely  than  do  the  occupations  of 
shopkeepers  and  other  dwellers  in  the  cities.  It  is 
necessary  to  study  the  habits  of  the  people  to  discover 
the  best  times  and  opportunities  for  preaching.  I  have 
sometimes  gone  into  a  large  village,  hoping  to  preach 
to  the  people,  and  found  it  almost  entirely  deserted 
except  by  a  very  few  old  people,  some  women,  and  a 
large  number  of  the  youngest  children.  The  men  were 
scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  fields  at  their  work,  and 
during  the  busy  seasons  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get 
access  to  them  in  the  daytime.  On  the  other  hand, 
men  who  work  at  hard  physical  labour  all  day  do  not 
generally  form  a  very  lively  audience  if  one  attempts 
to  speak  to  them  at  night.  But  there  is  one  hour  of 
the  day  which  is  often  best  of  all  for  evangelistic  work. 
When  the  men  have  returned  from  the  fields,  eaten  their 
supper,  and  had  their  bath,  especially  in  the  spring  and 
summer  evenings,  they  gather  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
village  to  enjoy  the  evening  breeze  and  talk  over  village 
affairs  in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  At  this  time,  especially 
if  it  be  a  moonlight  night,  occurs  the  best  opportunity 
of  all  for  evangelistic  preaching.  Under  the  great  banyan 
tree  of  the  village  or  in  any  open  space,  the  missionary 
may  present  himself  to  them  and  very  easily  get  into 
friendly  conversation.  In  most  cases  some  friendly 
neighbour  will  bring  out  a  seat  and  invite  him  to  sit 
down.  Someone  else  perhaps  brings  a  table  and  a 
lantern,  or  offers  tea.  With  some  such  friendly  introduc- 
tion it  is  very  pleasant  to  begin  to  speak  to  them  of  higher 
things,  and  they  will  often  listen  with  quiet  attention  for 
a  long  time.  A  little  experience  of  such  work  shows  one 
how  needful  it  is  to  consider  carefully  the  topics  to  be 
treated,  and  the  best  ways  of  presenting  the  Gospel. 
One    must  be  guided   largely    by    the   circumstances   of 


152     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

the  moment,  and  it  is  seldom  possible  to  choose  a  text 
and  deliver  a  formal  discourse  according  to  a  pre-con- 
ceived  plan.  One  learns,  too,  that  certain  topics  are 
apt  to  lead  to  inconvenient  interruption,  or  distraction  of 
thought,  or  unprofitable  argument  or  discussion.  There 
are  certain  points  at  which  we  must  sooner  or  later  un- 
equivocally condemn  ideas  and  observances  which  are 
highly  cherished,  but  it  is  part  of  the  preacher's  art  to 
avoid  raising  these  questions  prematurely.  There  are 
also  departments  of  Christian  theology,  profoundly  im- 
portant in  themselves,  but  liable  to  be  misunderstood 
or  difficult  of  comprehension,  which  ought  not  to  be 
prominently  brought  forward  at  an  early  stage.  The 
most  useful  discourses  will  generally  be  found  to  be  those 
which  link  themselves  on  most  naturally  to  the  preliminary 
conversation.  Very  often  things  will  take  some  such 
course  as  the  following  : — The  missionary,  who,  if  possible, 
should  be  accompanied  by  two  or  three  earnest  and 
sympathetic  native  assistants,  may  begin  by  friendly 
inquiries  about  the  state  of  their  crops  and  such  local 
topics  as  may  be  of  interest  at  the  time.  They  will 
then  probably  ask  where  he  comes  from  and  where  he 
is  going,  and  the  more  straightforward  and  explicit 
his  answers  to  these  questions  are  the  better.  He  may 
then  ask  them  if  they  know  why  he  has  come  to  their 
village.  This  question  reflects  the  thought  that  has 
been  working  in  all  their  minds,  and  many  good-natured 
guesses  will  be  made  as  to  the  object  of  the  visit.  "  Pro- 
bably to  shoot  birds,"  someone  will  say,  or  someone  else, 
"  To  do  business  "  ;  and  after  putting  aside  several  of  these 
guesses,  someone  who  has  heard  something  of  our  mission 
work  perhaps  explains  that  the  missionary  has  come  to 
teach  people  to  do  good  ;  or  someone  explains  that  he 
has  come  from  some  Christian  chapel  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  missionary  may  then  take  up  the  most  of 
the  talking  somewhat  as  follows  : — "  My  home  is  a  long 


E  VANGELIS  TIC  PRE  A  CHING  1 5  3 

way  from  here,  forty  or  fifty  days'  journey  across  the 
seas,  but  I  have  been  living  in  Swatow  (or  wherever  it 
may  be)  for  a  great  many  years."  By  this  time  some 
exclamations  will  be  made  of  wonder  at  a  foreigner  being 
able  to  speak  their  language,  and  he  may  go  on  :  "  When 
L  first  came  to  Swatow  I  could  not  speak  your  words 
because  I  had  not  learned  them,  just  as  you  cannot  speak 
mine,  but  I  invited  a  Chinese  graduate  to  teach  me,  and 
now  I  suppose  you  can  all  understand  me.  I  am  not  a 
merchant,  and  have  not  come  to  do  any  business.  Neither 
am  I  an  officer  sent  by  our  Queen,  nor  have  I  come  to 
shoot  birds.  I  belong  to  the  mission  in  Swatow,  but  we 
have  a  great  many  chapels  over  the  country,  and  I  am  on 
my  way  to  visit  some  of  them.  In  passing  through  your 
village  I  thought  you  might  like  to  hear  what  people 
mean  by  worshipping  Shang-ti.  If  you  would  like  to 
hear  about  it  I  shall  be  happy  to  talk  to  you  ;  but  if  you 
are  too  tired  with  your  day's  work,  I  will  not  trouble 
you."  By  this  time  there  will  probably  be  many  calls  to 
go  on  and  let  them  hear  all  about  it,  and  the  missionary 
goes  on  :  "  When  I  came  into  your  village  I  noticed  that 
you  all  gathered  round  to  look  at  me  because  my  clothing 
is  not  like  yours.  The  colour  of  my  face  is  not  the 
same  ;  as  I  said  to  you,  my  language  is  not  the  same  ; 
and  you  see  a  great  deal  in  me,  as  I  see  a  great  deal  in 
you,  that  looks  new  and  strange.  But  after  all,  although 
my  home  is  a  long  way  off  and  you  live  here,  we  have  a 
great  deal  in  common.  How  is  it  that  I,  who  am  a 
foreigner,  and  you,  who  are  Chinese,  have  bodies  so  much 
alike  ?  And  how  is  it  that  although  I  never  saw  you 
before  I  can  know  a  great  deal  about  you  simply  by 
knowing  my-  own  people  and  my  own  heart?  It  is 
because  we  are  all  made  by  the  one  God  who  made 
heaven  and  earth  and  all  things." 

Now  at  this  point  there  are  two  main  lines  of  thought 
that  are  often  followed.     The  mention  of  God  may  suggest 


154    THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

discussions  which  are  of  the  nature  of  natural  theology, 
and  this  is  a  favourite  method  with  our  native  preachers. 
They  speak  of  the  works  of  God  in  nature  as  proving  His 
being  and  attributes.  They  draw  their  illustrations  from 
agricultural  life,  and  point  how  God  sends  the  sunshine 
and  the  rain,  giving  them  bread^  from  heaven  and  fruitful 
seasons,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  St  Paul's  speech 
at  Lystra.  This  line  of  thought  may  be  illustrated  and 
brightened  by  familiar  sayings  or  proverbs  whose  truth 
will  be  recognised  by  all.  Besides,  it  appeals  readily  to 
the  great  thought  which,  as  I  have  said,  underlies,  after  all, 
the  endless  confusions  of  idolatrous  worship,  that  there  is 
one  Great  Spirit  who  is  above  all,  and  who  is  the  Maker 
and  Preserver  of  Men.  But  this  line  of  discourse  has  one 
drawback.  By  speaking  first  of  the  one  true  God  and 
His  worship  the  speaker  is  inevitably  led  to  speak  at  an 
early  stage  of  idolatry,  and  before  he  has  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  stating  the  great  outlines  of  Christian  teaching 
he  is  apt  to  involve  himself  in  collision  with  idolatrous  wor- 
ship, which  is  after  all  the  only  form  of  religious  worship 
practically  known  to  the  people.  For  this  reason  I  have 
often  preferred  at  this  point  to  take  a  different  line,  which 
also  suggests  itself  naturally  enough,  and  seems  fitted  to  lead 
on  to  more  satisfactory  results.  After  speaking  of  God 
and  His  Fatherly  goodness,  without  touching  on  the  ques- 
tion of  idolatry  at  all,  one  may  naturally  suggest  that  a 
God  so  good  and  beneficent  deserves  our  love  and  service, 
and  so  the  discourse  may  go  on  somewhat  as  follows. 

After  saying  that  all  men  are  essentially  alike  as  made 
by  the  one  God,  one  may  press  the  thought  a  stage  further 
and  say  that  although  unlike  in  outward  appearance,  we 
are  one  in  heart  and  inner  feelings  ;  or  to  put  the  thought 
in  Chinese  form,  that  we,  too,  have  "  the  seven  passions  " 
or  emotions.  These  are  joy,  anger,  grief,  fear,  love,  hatred 
and  desire.  Then  one  may  say  :  "  There  is  one  strange 
thing  which  we  see  in  the  west,  and  which  I  think  is  the 


E  VANGELIS  TIC  PRE  A  CHING  1 5  5 

same  among  you  in  China,  that  it  is  easier  to  do  wrong 
than  to  do  right,  and  that  whilst  we  know  what  is  good 
we  do  not  do  it.  Have  you  any  people  in  this  village 
who  always  do  right?  Any  people  who  are  perfectly 
good  ?  "  The  answer  to  this  question  is  usually  a  general 
laugh,  and  the  question  is  put  in  return  :  "  Where  would 
you  look  for  such  people  ? "  "  Well,"  I  say,  "  I  have 
never  seen  such  people  at  home  in  my  own  country,  and  I 
have  asked  for  them  in  a  great  many  places  in  China,  and 
have  never  found  them  yet.  Now,  I  do  not  say  that  you 
Chinese  are  all  bad  and  that  we  people  of  the  West  are 
all  good,  nor  do  I  say  that  you  are  worse  than  we  are,  but 
knowing  my  own  people,  or  rather  knowing  my  own  heart 
I  know  all  about  you  though  I  have  never  seen  you 
before.  Now,  you  in  China  are  great  admirers  of  filial 
piety.  You  are  always  saying  that  the  children  ought  to 
reverence  and  obey  their  fathers  and  mothers.  Now,  how 
many  of  you  children  (there  is  usually  an  inner  circle 
composed  of  the  children  gathered  round  the  preacher) 
always  do  what  your  father  and  mother  tell  you  ?  "  At 
this  question  there  are  generally  smiles  amongst  the 
children,  and  exegetical  remarks  amongst  the  older  people, 
who  rejoice  to  see  the  faults  of  the  children  pointed  out. 
"  Again,"  one  continues,  "  Again,  you  know  that  men 
should  speak  the  truth,  and  how  many  are  there  here  who 
have  never  told  a  lie  ?  Everyone  knows  that  it  is  wrong 
to  gamble,  but  what  will  you  say  if  I  ask  how  many  of  you 
gamble  ?  "  Probably  at  this  stage  someone  will  say  :  "  No 
one  here  gambles,"  only  to  be  put  down  by  general  cries  of 
"  Quite  right,  gambling  is  very  bad,  but  everybody  does  it." 
Continuing  in  some  such  line  as  this,  one  is  able  to 
appeal  to  their  own  consciences  on  the  great  distinctions 
between  right  and  wrong,  and  there  is  generally  a  frank 
acknowledgment  of  wrong-doing  on  all  hands.  I  re- 
member only  one  occasion  when  an  old  man  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  crowd  who  was  only  listening  at  intervals, 


156     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

his  attention  being  distracted  by  some  household  occupa- 
tions, became  ver>'  indignant  at  the  statement  that  there 
were  no  good  people,  and  left  his  rice  baskets  to  jump 
into  the  crowd  and  cry  out :  ''  No  good  people  !  If  there 
are  no  good  people  there  is  no  such  thing  as  right  and 
wrong  !  What  nonsense  !  "  But  in  almost  every  case,  if 
one  has  at  all  got  the  ear  of  the  people,  there  is  a  quiet 
acknowledgment  of  wrong-doing.  The  length  to  which 
this  subject  may  be  carried  will  depend  on  time  and 
circumstances,  but  when  attention  has  been  roused,  an 
opportunity  is  created  of  setting  forth  Jesus  Christ  first  of 
all  as  the  one  man  of  all  men  who  has  lived  a  perfect  life, 
and  then  as  the  Divine  Saviour  who  is  able  to  break  for 
men  the  old  bondage  of  sin,  and  to  make  possible  for 
them  the  better  life  which  in  their  best  moments  they 
have  vainly  desired,  but  have  not  yet  learned  to  live.  At 
this  stage  it  is  often  very  profitable  to  give  a  simple 
narrative  of  the  life  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  life  as 
a  religious  teacher  is  in  its  outward  form  easily  appre- 
hended by  a  people  whose  own  ideal  great  man  was 
essentially  a  public  teacher  of  morals.  The  cruelty  and 
injustice  -of  the  rulers  of  the  people,  and  the  pride  and 
bigotry  of  the  literary  caste  of  the  Pharisees,  all  present 
points  of  human  nature  of  which  they  can  easily  lay  hold  ; 
and  even  when  you  speak  to  them  of  Jesus  Christ  dying 
as  a  malefactor,  it  is  not  difficult  for  them  to  grasp  some 
idea  of  His  infinite  superiority  to  those  who  slew  Him. 
At  this  stage  of  Gospel  preaching  it  is  perhaps  better  to 
speak  of  the  Lord's  death  as  a  historical  fact,  without 
trying  to  present  it  in  a  theoretical  setting,  and  to  pass  on 
to  the  resurrection  as  being  on  the  one  hand  the  proof  of 
His  divinity,  and  on  the  other  justifying  us  in  setting  Him 
forth  not  merely  as  a  great  teacher  who  was  done  to  death 
in  olden  times,  but  as  a  living  Saviour  who  has  sent  us  to 
preach  Him  to  them  as  their  Saviour  from  their  own  sins. 
In  this  way  one  reaches  readily  the  great  central  ideas 


E  VANGELIS  TIC  PRE  A  CHING  i  5  7 

of  our  Christian  teaching,  and  is  able  to  present  them  to 
the  people  without  the  previous  irritation  or  unnecessary 
offence  which  would  be  created  by  discussions  on  the 
question  of  idolatry.  Besides,  the  line  which  has  been 
followed  has  brought  strongly  before  them  the  fact  that 
on  all  great  moral  questions  our  teaching  is  on  the  side  of 
what  is  good,  and  pure,  and  true.  You  have  carried  with 
you  from  the  beginning  the  consciences  of  the  best  of 
your  audience,  and  before  entering  into  discussions  with 
them  have  removed  from  their  minds  the  impression 
which  has  often  been  lurking  there,  that  we  are  teachers 
who  overthrow  religion  and  are  reckless  of  morality. 

That  such  an  opinion  should  be  widely  spread  regarding 
our  teaching  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Those  who  know 
anything  of  our  teaching  and  the  practice  of  Christian 
converts  must  know  that  we  discourage  both  the  worship 
of  idols  and  the  worship  of  ancestors.  We  say  ourselves 
that  we  testify  against  idolatrous  worship,  but,  put  into 
popular  Chinese,  this  aspect  of  our  teaching  is  described 
as  "  teaching  people  not  to  reverence  spirits  and  not  to 
regard  parents."  It  is  very  easy,  therefore,  for  the  idea 
to  spring  up  in  Chinese  minds  that  ours  is  essentially  an 
irreligious  and  irreverent  teaching.  Of  course  there  are 
persons  who  say  so  with  the  deliberate  intention  to 
slander  and  calumniate;  but  there  must  be  many  ignorant 
people  who  repeat  this  assertion  with  a  sincere  belief  in  it, 
and  with  a  real  grief  that  such  principles  as  they  have 
been  taught  to  attribute  to  us  should  be  preached  far  and 
wide  among  their  people.  For  the  sake  of  such  persons, 
who  are  often  among  the  best  and  most  open-minded  of 
the  people,  it  is  very  important  to  insist  largely  and  at  an 
early  stage  of  our  teaching  upon  Christian  ethics.  From 
the  first  Christianity  has  had  to  prove  itself  by  the  fruits 
which  it  produces  in  the  lives  of  its  followers,  and  much 
is  gained  when  we  give  a  Chinese  audience  some  assurance 
that  on  moral  questions  our  teaching  is  on  the  side  of 


158     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

right.  In  the  early  days  of  mission  work  in  south  China 
it  was  much  commoner  than  it  is  now  for  objectors  to 
allege  that  our  teaching  is  morally  bad  ;  but  now  a  much 
more  common  remark  is,  "  Your  teaching  is  good,  but  it 
is  too  hard."  With  that  idea  widely  spread  amongst  the 
minds  of  the  non-Christian  people,  our  battle  is  already 
half  won.  When  they  say  that  our  teaching  is  too  hard, 
they  tell  us  that  they  have  come  to  see  that  it  points  out 
to  them  a  higher  ideal  than  their  own,  and  that  what  we 
most  emphatically  condemn  are  the  evils  of  which  their 
own  consciences  have  already  told  them. 

Sooner  or  later  the  question  of  idolatry  must  be  faced 
with  almost  every  Chinese  audience.  If  nothing  is  said 
upon  that  subject,  it  will  be  assumed  that,  while  sanctioning 
the  already  existing  idolatry,  you  only  propose  to  add  one 
more  to  the  already  numerous  objects  of  worship  ;  but  if 
you  can  secure  that  the  question  shall  only  arise  after 
your  audience  has  become  aware  that  you  attach  great 
importance  to  sound  morals,  and  that  the  religion  which 
you  preach  both  teaches  reverence  towards  the  divine,  and 
supplies  the  strongest  motives  to  the  discharge  of  duty  in 
all  the  relations  of  life,  then  you  can  without  offence 
handle  the  question  of  idolatry  with  a  freedom  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  impossible.  You  can  show 
that  at  best  it  has  arisen  from  paying  excessive  honour  to 
those  who,  after  all,  were  only  the  distinguished  men  of 
ancient  time,  and  you  can  point  out  with  great  effect,  their 
own  consciences  bearing  witness,  that  it  has  entirely  failed 
to  secure  in  actual  life  the  practice  of  virtue. 

Many  a  happy  evening  have  I  spent  in  talking  in  this 
strain  under  the  moonlight  in  the  cool  evening  air  with  a 
friendly  and  attentive  audience.  But  you  must  not  sup- 
pose evangelistic  preaching  is  always  so  idyllic  as  this. 
Select  your  times  and  opportunities  when  you  can,  but 
you  must  also  be  prepared  to  take  them  as  they  come. 
Sometimes  you  must  preach  in  the  heat  of  the  day  under 


E  VA  NGELIS  TIC  PRE  A  CHING  1 5  9 

a  burning  sun,  or  in  some  scanty  spot  of  shade,  to  a  rest- 
less and  continually  changing  audience.  In  that  case  it 
is  manifestly  useless  to  attempt  a  long  and  systematic 
address.  However  good  the  plan  of  it  as  it  lies  in  your 
own  mind  may  be,  you  must  remember  that  the  members 
of  your  changing  audience  carry  away  only  disconnected 
fragments,  and  your  aim  must  be  with  as  much  variety  as 
possible  to  reiterate  frequently,  briefly,  and  strikingly, 
some  of  the  main  points  of  Christian  teaching.  Some- 
times the  opportunity  may  occur  in  a  large  town  where 
a  crowd  of  several  hundred  persons  gather  round  you. 
This  is  most  likely  to  occur  in  visiting  for  the  first  time 
large  centres  where  foreigners  have  seldom  or  never  been 
seen.  In  such  a  case  it  may  often  be  necessary  to  give 
some  idea  of  foreign  countries  and  their  relations  with 
China,  and  to  satisfy  their  natural  curiosity  on  foreign 
life  and  customs.  I  have  often  read  laments  from 
missionaries  that  on  such  a  first  meeting  with  a  non- 
Christian  audience,  attention  is  distracted  by  irrelevant 
questions  about  our  clothing,  its  material  and  price,  and  so 
on.  I  have  never  felt  that  such  questions  are  in  any  way 
to  be  deprecated.  Anything  that  brings  the  people  near  to 
us,  and  gives  us  a  hold  on  their  interest  at  any  one  point, 
is  clear  gain.  Moreover,  there  is  generally  in  the  Chinese 
mind  a  preconceived  assumption  that  no  foreigner  can 
speak  Chinese,  and  this  assumption  often  really  prevents 
their  understanding  the  first  sentences  which  they  hear 
from  a  foreigner,  no  matter  how  good  a  speaker  of  their 
language  he  may  be.  A  little  preliminary  conversation, 
irrelevant  as  it  may  seem  to  the  ardent  evangelist  who 
wishes  to  reach  his  subject  at  once,  so  far  from  being  an 
undesirable  distraction  of  attention,  is  really  of  great  ad- 
vantage. When  the  audience  is  large,  and  is  disposed, 
as  on  the  occasion  of  a  first  visit  it  generally  is,  to  remain 
listening  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  it  is  well  to 
cover  as  much  ground  as  possible  in  preaching  to  them. 


i6o     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

It  is  an  opportunity  of  awakening  general  interest  which 
may  not  recur  in  the  same  place.  By  the  time  the 
missionary  has  become  a  familiar  spectacle  in  any  town 
his  audiences  are  likely  to  diminish  in  number,  and  these 
first  opportunities  never  again  recur.  The  evangelist  must 
by  experience  acquire  the  art  of  gaining  a  hearing  and 
of  managing  his  audience.  Much  will  depend  on  the 
positions  in  which  he  chooses  to  speak.  He  should 
avoid  temple  doors  where  the  priests  may  make  an  ob- 
jection to  his  presence,  busy  and  crowded  thoroughfares, 
shop  doors,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  itinerant  vendors 
of  food.  In  such  positions  the  crowd  which  soon  gathers 
round  interrupts  business,  interferes  with  traffic,  and  the 
preacher's  action  is  apt  to  be  bitterly  and  not  unjustly 
resented  by  those  whose  business  is  thus  interfered  with. 
A  little  care  will  generally  enable  one  to  find  open  spaces  — 
all  the  better  if  they  are  not  too  large — at  no  great  distance 
from  the  crowded  thoroughfares,  where  those  who  choose 
can  turn  aside  and  listen  without  causing  inconvenience 
to  others.  A  little  consideration  in  matters  of  this  kind 
will  often  do  more  to  commend  the  Gospel  to  the  quiet 
people  of  the  neighbourhood  than  the  utmost  zeal  which 
is  not  mingled  with  discretion.  In  open-air  preaching  I 
have  always  found  it  very  advantageous  when  possible  to 
select  a  spot  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  dead  wall,  and  to 
stand  facing  it  at  some  little  distance.  The  audience 
then  gather  between  the  speaker  and  the  wall,  the  sound 
is  retained,  and  they  are  shut  off  from  disturbance  or 
interruption.  In  work  of  this  kind  it  is  of  great  im- 
portance to  have  at  least  one  or  two  active  and  sympa- 
thetic assistants.  No  one  should  speak  for  too  long  a 
time  at  once.  The  foreign  missionary  and  his  assistants 
may  with  great  advantage  speak  in  turn,  and  the  variety 
of  thought  and  subject  will  often  serve  to  hold  an 
audience  together  for  a  much  longer  time  than  could  be 
done  by   one   speaker.     Besides,   the  voice   of  a   native 


EVANGELISTIC  TEACHING  i6i 

speaker  supporting  and  enforcing  Christian  teaching,  with 
a  wealth  of  local  knowledge  and  native  experience  which 
no  missionary  can  possess,  carries  much  weight  with  a 
native  audience.  The  missionary,  when  not  himself  en- 
gaged in  speaking,  can  use  his  time  profitably  in  watching 
the  audience,  marking  down  individuals  who  may  seem 
to  be  interested,  and  taking  mental  note  of  questions  that 
may  be  put  or  objections  that  may  be  raised.  This  will 
be  of  great  service  to  him  when  his  turn  comes  round 
again.  But  as  a  general  rule  a  second  address  should  be 
very  short,  confining  itself  to  some  friendly  enforcement 
of  what  has  been  already  said,  with  an  intimation  of  where 
the  nearest  place  of  Christian  worship  may  be  found,  and 
a  hearty  invitation  to  all  present  to  visit  it  at  any  time. 

Tact  is  sometimes  needed  as  to  the  missionary's  rela- 
tions with  his  native  assistants.  They  are  not  all  equally 
competent  speakers,  and  if  anyone  is  seen  to  be  mani- 
festly losing  his  hold  of  the  audience,  the  missionary 
should  not  allow  a  good  opportunity  to  be  wasted  by  his 
inefficiency.  On  the  other  hand,  he  must  not  be  abruptly 
and  discourteously  checked.  If  another  native  speaker 
is  present,  it  will  often  be  sufficient  to  ask  the  speaker  to 
close  shortly,  and  make  way  for  him.  Or  the  missionary 
may  himself  take  advantage  of  any  question  put  or  re- 
mark made  to  resume  speaking  himself  Some  of  the 
native  speakers  are  specially  gifted  for  this  kind  of  work ; 
but  I  have  seen  a  thoroughly  good  man  of  the  highest 
Christian  character  and  large  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
who,  through  defect  of  voice  or  hesitancy  of  manner,  was 
apt,  in  such  circumstances,  to  scatter  the  audience.  An 
open-air  audience  shows  its  lack  of  interest  in  the  speaker 
at  once  by  the  hum  of  conversation  which  arises  as  soon 
as  the  strain  of  attention  is  broken,  and  presently  begins 
to  move  and  scatter.  I  remember  in  such  circumstances 
calling  upon  another  native  preacher,  greatly  the  inferior 
of  the  first  in  Christian  experience  and  range  of  knowledge, 

L 


1 62     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

but  who  to  real  earnestness  added  a  singular  natural  gift 
of  good  expression  and  a  pleasant  manner.  I  have  seen 
the  half-dissolved  audience  settle  itself  again  to  a  fresh 
interest  in  his  address,  and  an  opportunity  of  reaching  a 
large  number  of  people  was  thus  saved.  In  short,  the 
missionary,  whether  himself  speaking  or  calling  upon  his 
native  assistants,  must  always  be  vigilantly  on  the  watch, 
and  never  lose  his  control  of  what  is  going  on. 

A  good  deal  of  tact  and  discretion  must  be  used  in 
dealing  with  interruptions  and  questions.  A  question 
that  is  sincerely  put  is  always  to  be  welcomed.  It  shows 
interest,  and  helps  the  speaker  in  adapting  what  he  says 
to  the  mind  of  his  audience.  Some  native  speakers  can 
make  a  very  happy  use  of  questions  put  to  them,  but  I 
have  heard  some  who  resented  anything  of  the  kind,  their 
only  answer  to  a  question  being,  "  You  be  quiet,  and  let 
me  talk."  This  is  both  discourteous  and  impolitic,  be- 
cause a  quiet  and  reasonable  answer  to  a  reasonable  ques- 
tion always  appeals  strongly  to  the  good  sense  of  a  Chinese 
audience,  and  the  man  who  evades  a  question  is  naturally 
suspected  of  having  something  to  conceal.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  open-air  preacher  must  be  on  his  guard  against 
questions  which  are  wholly  irrelevant  or  not  very  impor- 
tant, and  still  more  against  questions  which  are  destined 
to  lead  him  into  a  snare.  Sometimes  a  question  is  put 
in  all  good  faith  and  with  a  real  desire  for  information, 
but  the  answer  would  lead  one  too  far  afield,  and  break 
the  main  line  of  address.  Sometimes  an  intelligent  ques- 
tion merely  anticipates  something  which  you  intend  to 
say  later  on  after  preparing  the  way  for  it.  In  cases  like 
these  it  is  a  mistake  to  allow  yourself  to  be  diverted  from 
your  proposed  line  of  argument,  and  if  you  courteously 
reply  that  the  point  will  be  dealt  with  later  on,  or  that 
you  wish  first  to  finish  what  you  had  intended  to  say, 
and  will  then  return  to  the  subject  raised  by  the  ques- 
tioner, you  will  generally  find  that  the  questioner  himself 


EVANGELISTIC  TEACHING  163 

is  satisfied,  and  that  you  carry  your  audience  with  you. 
If  a  question  is  put  manifestly  for  the  purpose  of  inter- 
rupting and  giving  annoyance,  there  are  different  ways 
in  which  it  may  be  dealt  with.  Sometimes  a  brief 
pointed  answer  that  turns  the  tables  on  the  inquirer  will 
both  silence  him  and  secure  the  keener  attention  of  the 
others.  If  interruptions  of  this  kind  are  repeated  it  may 
be  well  to  appeal  to  the  courtesy  of  the  audience  as  a 
whole,  or  to  treat  the  interruptions  as  an  annoyance 
to  them,  and  request  the  interrupter  to  be  silent  and 
allow  others  to  hear.  The  two  essentials  in  dealing  with 
interruptions  are  that  the  speaker  should  be  on  the  alert 
to  discriminate  between  fair  and  unfair  questions,  and  that 
in  all  circumstances  he  should  perfectly  keep  his  temper. 
A  little  good-humoured  banter  will  often  turn  a  hostile 
and  restless  audience  into  friendly  and  attentive  listeners. 

Sometimes  you  may  with  advantage  allow  the  whole 
line  of  your  address  to  be  determined  by  remarks  or 
questions  addressed  to  you,  but  you  must  always  remain 
master  of  yourself  and  master  of  your  audience.  In 
some  cases  a  very  good  effect  is  produced  by  singling  out 
one  of  the  oldest  men  in  the  audience  and  requesting  him 
to  reprove  or  check  any  unruly  interrupter.  Your  re- 
cognition of  the  respect  due  to  an  old  man  will  be 
appreciated  both  by  himself  and  by  the  rest  of  the 
audience.  You  will  generally  secure  his  assistance  in 
keeping  order,  and  the  most  unruly  interrupter  will  in 
most  cases  be  compelled  to  listen  to  him. 

There  are  a  certain  number  of  stock  objections  which 
are  often  made,  such  as  the  following  :  "  You  teach  people 
to  reject  their  father  and  mother."  "  Where  is  your  God  ? 
We  cannot  believe  when  we  have  never  seen  him."  "  We 
must  follow  the  customs."  ''  Your  way  is  good  for  you  ; 
ours  is  good  for  us."  But  a  Chinaman's  objections  are 
generally  reasonable  and  tangible.  They  are  not  like 
those  frequently  met  with  by  missionaries  in  India  which 


1 64     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

are  purely  captious,  and  so  subtle  as  hardly  to  admit  of 
reply  ;  objections  which  are  natural  to  the  Hindoo  mind, 
such  as  that  "  Man  and  God  are  one,  and  that  all  is 
divine "  ;  or  that  "  Nothing  that  we  see  has  real  exist- 
ence "  ;  that  "  The  world  and  ourselves  are  all  illusion." 
Objections  such  as  these  are  never  made  by  a  Chinese 
hearer.  In  the  early  days  of  mission  work  there  was 
sometimes  rough  and  boisterous  opposition,  but  that  is 
not  a  frequent  experience  now  at  least,  and  one  seldom 
meets  with  such  things  as  I  have  read  of  in  the  ex- 
perience of  the  evangelistic  preacher  in  India.  "  Insults 
to  you  ;  calumnies  or  blasphemies  against  the  Christian 
faith  ;  wild,  rash  assertions,  mingled  perhaps  with 
obscenity."     These  things  we  do  not  often  meet  with. 

In  evangelistic  preaching,  perhaps  especially  among  a 
people  like  the  Chinese,  illustrations  should  be  freely  used, 
and  the  preacher  must  learn  to  cultivate  the  art  of  happy 
illustration.  But  they  must  be  drawn  from  native  life 
and  manners.  Illustrations  drawn  from  things  strange 
and  foreign  may  sometimes  tell  if  they  are  sufficiently 
vivid  and  obvious  to  explain  themselves,  but  an  illus- 
tration which  itself  needs  explanation  is  doomed  to  failure. 
So  is  an  illustration  drawn  from  native  life  with  insufficient 
knowledge  or  inaccuracy  of  detail.  For  these  reasons  the 
man  who  would  be  an  evangelistic  preacher  must  not 
expect  to  stand  up  before  the  people  and  say  anything 
that  comes  into  his  mind.  He  must  continuously  observe, 
and  think,  and  prepare,  if  he  would  speak  with  advantage 
to  a  general  audience. 

References  to  Chinese  history  or  literature,  if  judiciously 
used,  are  often  helpful.  They  awaken  interest  amongst  a 
people  who,  even  when  ignorant,  have  a  proud,  if  some- 
what vague,  sense  of  the  greatness  of  their  national 
history.  It  flatters  their  self-esteem  to  find  that  a 
foreigner  has  read  and  is  familiar  with  their  books  and 
their  great  men.     It  gives  them  confidence  also  in  his  asser- 


EVANGELISTIC  TEACHING  165 

tions  and  arguments,  and  from  the  wide  range  of  Chinese 
history,  characters  and  incidents  may  be  readily  drawn 
which  will  illustrate  and  enforce  points  of  Christian  teaching. 

The  question  has  been  often  discussed  whether  it  is 
well  for  the  Christian  teacher  to  quote  weighty  sentences 
from  the  Chinese  classics.  It  seems  natural  that  one 
should  do  so,  and  the  support  of  books  held  in  such  high 
esteem  among  the  people  is  often  welcomed  by  the 
preacher  as  a  valuable  support  to  his  teaching.  Some  of 
our  native  preachers  are  very  fond  of  quoting  expressions 
of  this  kind  ;  but  I  have  noticed  that  these  quotations  are 
most  freely  made  by  the  least  scholarly  and  thoughtful 
men,  and,  on  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to  accept  as  correct 
the  judgment  of  an  experienced  missionary  who  has  long 
been  an  evangelistic  preacher,  that  a  sermon  in  which 
Confucius  is  quoted  is  a  sermon  spoiled.  The  reason  for 
this  lies  here.  The  Chinaman,  while  an  acute  reasoner 
along  the  lines  of  his  own  mental  development,  is  seldom 
strictly  logical  in  his  mental  processes.  If  you  quote 
Confucius  to  him  he  does  not  draw  the  inference  that 
Confucius  supports  your  teaching,  but  rather  that  your 
teaching  is  drawn  from  Confucius.  Hence  such  quotations 
are  apt  to  give  the  impression  that  after  all  we  are  only 
enforcing  the  teaching  of  the  Confucian  books.  It  is  not 
necessary  for  us  in  public  preaching  to  come  into  needless 
collision  with  these  venerable  authorities ;  but  it  is 
probably  better  that  we  should  rest  our  Christian  teaching 
upon  its  own  proper  basis,  and  refrain  from  quotations 
the  effect  of  which  is  at  least  doubtful. 

But  this  objection  need  not  hinder  us  from  freely  using 
illustrations  drawn  from  Chinese  history,  and  familiar 
proverbial  sayings  may  often  be  used  with  good  effect. 
It  is  important  for  the  evangelistic  preacher  to  be  some- 
what familiar  with  the  background  of  the  thinking  of  his 
audience,  and  for  this  purpose  he  cannot  be  a  too  diligent 
student  of  Chinese  history  and   literature.      He  will  find 


1 66     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

in  these  both  mental  discipline  for  himself  and  points  of 
contact  with  the  Chinese  mind,  and  will  thus  find  himself 
brought  into  nearer  relations  with  even  the  most  ignorant 
of  his  audience. 

Friends  of  missions  at  home  often  speak  of  sending 
evangelists  to  China  with  the  idea  that  for  such  work 
scholarship  and  education  are  not  required.  They  seem 
to  think  that  these  things  may  be  necessary  for  literary  or 
educational  work,  but  that  any  Christian  man  or  woman 
is  necessarily  fitted  for  such  elementary  work  as  the 
evangelisation  of  a  heathen  people.  I  believe  there  could 
not  be  a  more  profound  mistake,  and  that  the  evangelist 
ought  to  labour  more  than  any  other  to  attain,  on  the  one 
hand,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  people  amongst  whom 
he  labours,  and  on  the  other,  a  thorough  knowledge  and 
free  use  of  their  language. 

I  have  now  spoken  of  evangelistic  preaching  as  carried 
on  in  settled  positions,  such  as  permanent  halls  or  chapels 
on  the  main  streets  of  great  cities,  and  to  open-air 
audiences  in  the  course  of  itineration  among  the  towns 
and  villages.  There  is  one  other  form  of  it  of  which  a 
few  words  may  be  said  here.  Our  mission  hospitals  afford 
one  of  the  most  favourable  fields  for  the  evangelist,  both 
by  preaching  and  by  personal  intercourse  with  individual 
patients.  In  our  Swatow  hospital,  for  example,  we  have 
an  average  of  about  i8o  in-patients  in  the  hospital 
throughout  the  year,  and  on  some  days  of  the  week  there 
are  besides  large  numbers  of  out-door  or  dispensary 
patients.  Every  morning  and  evening  worship  is  held  in 
the  hospital  chapel,  which  all  the  patients  are  welcome 
to  attend.  The  majority  of  them  suffer  from  chronic 
ailments  which  do  not  confine  them  to  bed,  and  the  chapel 
is  usually  filled  with  an  audience  of  patients  and  their 
friends,  often  numbering  considerably  over  200.  The 
preaching  at  these  services  is  carried  on  by  the  foreign 
missionaries  and  native  assistants  in  turn.     The  patients 


EVANGELISTIC  TEACHING  167 

are  often  resident  in  the  hospital  for  several  weeks,  or 
even  months,  at  a  time.  They  have  thus  the  opportunity 
of  hearing  continuous  Christian  teaching,  and  they  have 
besides  long  hours  of  enforced  leisure  throughout  the  day, 
during  which  the  truth  which  they  have  heard  is  turned 
over  in  their  minds.  The  fact  that  they  are  receiving 
kindly  attention  both  from  the  foreign  physician  and  from 
his  native  assistants  has  already  made  a  favourable 
impression  on  their  minds,  and  renders  them  specially 
susceptible  to  Christian  influences.  For  this  reason  the 
opportunities  afforded  in  the  hospital  for  evangelistic 
preaching  are  of  special  value,  although  it  is  perhaps  not 
always  easy  to  take  the  best  possible  advantage  of  them. 
The  preacher  is  liable,  perhaps,  to  a  temptation  to  speak 
to  these  people  as  patients,  rather  than  as  men  and  women, 
and  this  is  a  temptation  to  be  resisted.  They  will  be  best 
reached  by  preaching  not  essentially  differing  in  method 
and  matter  from  evangelistic  preaching  by  the  wayside. 

In  connection  with  evangelistic  preaching,  whether  in 
halls  or  in  the  open  air,  large  use  may  be  advantageously 
made  of  Christian  books  and  tracts.  Of  these  we  have 
now  at  our  disposal  a  very  large  variety,  and  many  of 
them  well  fitted  for  such  use.  Chinese  coinage  happily 
allows  of  a  very  minute  sub-division  of  values,  and  sheet 
tracts  or  small  books  may  be  sold  for  prices  as  low  as  one 
or  two  cash,  a  cash  being  at  present  equivalent  to  about 
one-tenth  part  of  a  farthing.  These  books  contain  brief 
explanations  of  Christian  teaching  and  worship,  the  doc- 
trine of  one  true  God,  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour,  the 
vanity  of  idolatrous  worship,  and  exhortations  on  moral 
topics.  One  sheet  which  has  been  very  useful  consists  of 
the  text  of  the  ten  commandments  with  brief  notes,  and 
a  short  statement  of  the  Gospel  way  of  salvation  for 
sinners  who  have  broken  the  law  of  God.  Another  gives 
the  names  of  towns  and  villages  in  which  Christian  places 
of  worship  may  be  found,  with   the  dates  on  which  the 


i68     THE  FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

Lord's  Day  falls,  and  a  very  brief  statement  of  the  out- 
lines of  Christian  teaching.  Of  these  two  sheets  very 
large  numbers  have  been  circulated  throughout  the  Tie- 
chiu  district,  and  nearly  every  native  Christian  has  a  copy 
pasted  up  on  the  walls  of  his  home,  or  on  the  door,  where 
all  may  see,  and  where  it  takes  the  place  of  the  usual 
idolatrous  charms  and  inscriptions.  In  the  early  days 
of  mission  work  books  and  tracts  were  often  given  away 
freely,  but  now  this  is  seldom  done.  It  is  found  that 
books  which  are  sold  are  much  more  likely  to  be  pre- 
served and  read  than  those  which  are  carelessly  given 
away,  and  the  price  is  so  low  that  it  neither  deters  buyers 
nor  does  it  create  any  impression  that  the  preacher  is 
selling  for  the  sake  of  gain.  In  special  cases  larger  books 
are  sometimes  given,  especially  where  any  kindness  or 
courtesy  has  been  shown,  of  which  one  wishes  to  make 
some  slight  acknowledgment.  The  Bible  Societies  have 
for  many  years  provided  single  Gospels  in  the  shape  of 
small  books,  which  are  sold  at  the  price  of  five  cash,  or 
half  a  farthing.  We  have  now  been  able  to  persuade  the 
Bible  Societies  to  give  us  these  Gospels  with  very  brief 
explanatory  notes,  referring  chiefly  to  names,  places,  and 
local  customs  which  present  difficulty  to  the  Chinese  reader. 
By  their  constitution  and  practice  the  Bible  Societies  are 
strictly  pledged  not  to  annotate  the  Scriptures  which  they 
circulate,  in  any  doctrinal  sense,  but  the  concession  now  made 
of  giving  notes  which  are  in  no  way  doctrinal,  greatly  in- 
creases the  value  of  books  of  Scripture  for  evangelistic  use. 
Books  not  only  help  hearers  to  remember  something 
of  what  they  have  heard,  but,  being  carried  to  their 
homes,  they  often  interest  others  who  have  not  been 
reached  by  the  preacher.  Men  have  thus  been  brought 
to  the  truth  by  what  they  have  read  ;  and  in  some  cases 
the  Christian  Church  has  been  planted  in  new  places  by 
little  companies  of  worshippers  who  have  gathered  round 
a  stray  copy  of  some  Christian  book. 


LECTURE  VII 

THE    SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK  :    THE  PLANTING 
OF    THE    CHURCH 

We  may  now  ask  what  results  may  be  expected  from 
the  various  kinds  of  evangeHstic  preaching,  such  as  have 
now  been  described.  What  aim  should  the  preacher  set 
before  him,  and  what  does  experience  teach  us  as  to  the 
resul^  usually  achieved  ? 

It  appears  to  me  that  two  views  may  be  taken  by  the 
preacher  of  the  object  at  which  he  should  aim.  He  may 
either  seek  (i)  to  carry  if  possible  all  the  members  of  his 
audience  with  him,  interesting  all,  and  addressing  himself 
to  all  alike,  or  (2)  he  may  aim  rather  at  reaching  some 
amongst  them,  and  feel  that  his  essential  work  is  being 
done  even  though  many  should  be  manifestly  indifferent 
and  careless.  At  first  sight  it  will  probably  appear  to 
you  that  it  is  the  preacher's  duty  to  seek  to  carry  with 
him  all  alike.  This  view  will  lead  us  to  insist  upon  great 
simplicity  of  statement,  and  clearness  of  illustration,  and 
to  feel  a  great  unwillingness  to  allow  any  to  reject  the 
message.  It  is  well,  perhaps,  that  one  should  begin  his 
evangelistic  work  with  such  ideas,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
there  is  good  ground  for  thinking  that  experience  and 
reflection  will  considerably  modify  them.  The 'evangel- 
istic preacher  must  often  feel  how  great  are  the  barriers 
which  exist  between  his  mind,  and  still  more  between  his 
own  spiritual  experience,  and  those  of  his  hearers.  In- 
deed, if  he  allows  his  mind  to  dwell  largely  on  thoughts 
of  this  kind,  he  may  well  feel  discouragement,  if  not 
despair.  He  cannot  help  being  conscious  of  a  spiritual 
deadness    which    reacts  upon  himself,  and  restrains  and 

169 


170     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

cools  his  most  earnest  appeals  to  them.  He  will  be 
tempted,  perhaps,  to  lower  the  spiritual  levels  of  his 
teaching  and  expostulation,  in  order  to  meet  the  un- 
spiritual  audience,  as  it  were,  half-way.  He  will  feel  that 
he  is  failing  in  his  mission,  perhaps  that  he  is  sinning 
against  his  audience,  if  he  allows  any  of  them,  however 
callous  and  prejudiced,  to  remain  unreached.  The  result 
of  this  line  of  thinking  is  apt  to  be  what  I  have  often  seen- 
it  become,  especially  in  the  hands  of  our  native  brethren. 
All  that  is  deeply  spiritual,  including  what  is  most  pro- 
foundly moving  in  Christian  thought,  is  apt  to  be  ^id 
aside  as  too  high  and  deep  for  those  addressed.      Atten- 

'tion  is  fastened  upon  a  few  elementary  thoughts,  and 
these  are  treated  in  the  ^  most  elementary  way,'  with  the 
idea  of  bringing  them  within  the  reach  of  the  'least 
awakened  and  most  unspiritual  mind.  When  this  is 
'  done  the  sweep  and  force  of  Gospel  preaching  is  gone, 
and  yet  the  result  has  been  reached  by  so  natural  a 
process  of  reasoning  that  many  an  evangelistic  preacher 
must  have  deeply  felt  as  if  he  had  been  shut  up  by  his 
position  to  this  disastrous  course. 

I  venture  to  think  that  another  line  of  thought  will 
suggest  a  truer  idea  of  the  evangelist's  position  and  duty, 
and  lead  to  happier  results  in  his  preaching.  It  is  to  be 
assumed  at  the  outset  that  the  bulk  of  the  audience  is 
indeed  not  only  ignorant  but  unspiritual,  and  incompetent 
to  apprehend  spiritual  truth.  At  the  same  time  con- 
science remains,  and  even  in  the  midst  of  heathenism 
remains  in  some  degree  awake.  If  spirituality  is  wanting 
in  the  hearers,  it  needs  to  be  realised  all  the  more  that 
the  preacher  must  look  throughout  for  the  presence  and 
working  of  the  Spirit  of  God  both  in  his  own  heart  and 

"  in  the  heart  of  any  whom  his  message  is  to  reach.  I 
believe  experience  shows  that  even  in  a  so-called  heathen 
audience  there  may  be  some,  however  small  a  minority 
they  may  be,  who  have  been  in  sor^e  way  touched  by  the 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     171 

providence  of  God  and  prepared  to  receive  Christian 
teaching.  They  may  be  very  little  awake,  and  they  have 
as  yet  practically  no  knowledge  of  divine  truth,  but  they 
have  reached  a  position  which  makes  them  the  proper 
material  for  the  working  of  the  Gospel.  Now  in  preach- 
ing the  evangelist  may  consciously  elect  to  aim  specially 
at  minds  of  this  class^  He  does  not  suppose  that  his 
audience  consists  of  prepared  spiritual  men,  but  the  belief 
that  there  may  be  such  amongst  them  gives  him  a  larger 
range  of  freedom  in  the  presentation  of  divine  truth.  He 
knows  that  success  does  not  depend  ultimately  on  the 
vividness  of  his  illustration,  or  the  force  of  his  argument 
to  open  the  door  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  working  through 
his  own  mind"  and  utterance  upon  the  minds  of  those  wh© 
hear.  With  this  feeling  uppermost  in  his  mind  he  will 
not  hesitate  to  set  forth  views  of  truth  which  he  knows 
are  far  above  the  actual  mental  and  spiritual  level  of 
many  of  his  hearers.  The  result  will  be  that  even  among 
these  darkened  minds  ^there  will  be  some  recognition 
of  the  divine  power  of  truth,  and  some  token  of  the 
working  in  their  hearts  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Indeed,  it 
is  only  some  such  view  as  this  which  will  enable  the 
evangelist  amongst  the  heathen  to  sustain  his  belief  in 
the  power  and  efficacy  of  Gospel  preaching. 

The  considerations  to  which  I  have  now  referred  will 
help  to  guide  us  as  to  the  kind  of  results  that  are  to  be 
looked  for  in  this  department  of  mission  work.  Speaking 
to  audiences  to  whom  the  whole  matter  spoken  of  is 
entirely  new  and  strange,  one  does  not  expect  that  large 
numbers  are  to  be  immediately  turned  from  darkness  to 
light.  When  reference  is  made  to  the  large  numbers 
converted  at  Pentecost  under  the  preaching  of  St  Peter, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  these  were  all  persons  who 
were  already  instructed  in  spiritual  religion,  worshippers 
of  the^Ktrue  God,  to  whom  it  was  only  necessary  to  point 
out  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Messiah  promised  to  their  fathers 


172     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

and  entitled  to  claim  their  allegiance  and  worship.  In 
preaching  to  the  heathen  we  meet  with  no  such 
general  preparation  of  heart.  But  experience  shows  that 
on  the  mission  field,  as  in  New  Testament  times,  individual 
cases  are  not  infrequently  to  be  met  with  where  there  is 
perhaps  some  sense  of  sin,  or  at  least  some  awakening  of 
mind  and  inquiry  after  truth. 

Accordingly,  on  looking  back  upon  the  evangelistic 
work  of  my  own  mission,  and  I  believe  the  experience 
of  others  is  not  materially  different,  one  notices  that  there 
are  a  number  of  well-marked  individual  cases  where  the 
hearing  of  evangelistic  preaching  was  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  life.  These  cases  are  not  numerous  rela- 
tively to  the  whole  number  of  converts,  but  they  are 
usually  cases  of  persons  with  a  well-marked  individuality, 
and  whose  after  career  as  members  of  the  Christian 
Church  has  given  evidence  of  more  than  usual  earnest- 
ness and  fitness  for  Christian  service.  ' 

Take,  for  instance,  the  first  convert  of  the  English 
Presbyterian  Mission  in  Tie-chiu.  His  name  was  Tan 
Khai-lin.  At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  lef|  to  the  care 
of  his  mother  on  the  death  of  his  father,  who  had  been  a 
military  officer  of  no  great  rank.  An  uncle  with  whom 
he  lived  became  involved  in  difficulties  on  account  of  a 
lawsuit  brought  against  him  by  the  relatives'  of  a  man 
who  was  accidentally  shot  during  archery  practice.  To 
escape  from  his  difficulties  Khai-lin's  uncle  came  to 
Swatow,  and  brought  his  nephew  along  with  him.  While 
there  they  heard  that  a  foreigner  was,  as  the  Chinese 
say,  "  telling  old  stories  "  in  a  street  chapel.  They  went 
to  hear  and  see.  Khai-lin  continued  his  attendance  for 
some  time  and  attracted  the  attention  of  the  missionary 
who  was  in  charge.  He  was  by  this  time  sixteen  years 
of  age,  and  having  received  a  good  education,  he  was 
asked  by  the  missionary  to  assist  him  by  doing  some 
Chinese  writing.     When  the  work  was  finished  he  pro- 


/ 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     173 

posed  to  return  home,  but  on  conversation  with  the 
missionary  it  appeared  that  the  truth  which  he  had  been 
hearing  now  for  some  months  had  found  a  lodgment  in 
his  mind.  He  was  told  that  if  he  was  indeed  a  believer 
in  Christ  it  was  his  duty  to  confess  him  in  baptism.  He 
said  he  would  return  home  and  consult  his  mother,  but 
after  some  conversation  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
would  seek  baptism  before  he  left.  In  later  days  he 
remarked  :  "  At  that  time,  though  I  said  I  was  a  sinner 
and  believed  in  Jesus,  both  my  sense  of  sin  and  my  faith 
were  very  shallow,  and  J  have  since  found  out  more  fully 
how  great  my  sin  is,  and  also  how  great  the  grace  of  Christ 
is."  He  was  baptised,  and  shortly  after  returned  home. 
On  telling  his  mother  the  new  truths  which  he  had  learned, 
he  was  greatly  surprised  and  delighted  to  find  that  instead 
of  showing  displeasure  as  he  had  expected,  she  bowed  her 
head  in  token  of  assent  and  approval  as  he  put  forward 
point  after  point  of  Christian  teaching.  She  too  afterwards 
visited  Swatow,  accepted  the  Gospel,  and  received  baptism. 

The  point  that  interested  Khai-lin  when  he  first  heard 
Christian  preaching  was  the  preaching  of  one  living  God 
who  created  and  governs  all,  and  whom  all  men  might 
worship.  He  saw  the  error  and  folly  of  his  former  prayers 
and  offerings  to  the  idols,  and  said  to  himself,  "  Clearly  I 
am  in  the  wrong  road  altogether."  When  he  heard  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  for  sinners  he  was  at  first 
stimulated  to  try  to  do  right  and  refrain  from  evil,  and 
before  long  was  led  to  trust  for  success  in  Christ  alone. 

In  after  years,  when  Khai-lin  had  become  himself  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  he  accompanied  a  missionary  to  a 
market  town  to  preach  to  the  people.  A  farmer  in  the 
neighbourhood,  who  came  amongst  others  to  hear,  has 
given  a  graphic  account  of  his  own  experiences  as  a 
hearer.  When  the  preaching  began  the  people  were 
saying  "  What  are  they  talking  about  ? "  "  Oh,"  said 
one,  "  they  tell  us  that  we  should  renounce  our  father  and 


174     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

mother."  But  others  exclaimed,  "  Let  us  hear  what  they 
have  got  to  say."  On  that  occasion  Khai-lin  began  by 
saying  :/'  Everything  has  a  lord  and  master  ;  every  house, 
field,  ship.  The  District  Magistrate  is  master  of  the 
District  ;  the  Viceroy  of  the  Province  ;  the  Emperor  of 
the  Empire.  Surely,  then,  heaven  and  earth  have  a  great 
Lord  who  has  universal  control  and  authority  over  them. 
This  is  the  God  whom  we  preach  to  you."  The  farmer, 
whose  name  was  Lou-ji,  says  that  he  felt  at  once  that 
this  was  the  truth,  and  stood  listening  very  earnestly  to 
what  was  said  by  both  preachers.  Some  disputed  with 
them,  and  said,  "  Then  we  must  not  worship  idols  ? " 
"  No,"  said  the  preachers,  "  they  are  only  departed  men. 
Worship  belongs  to  God  alone."  "  Formerly,"  says 
Lou-ji,  "  I  had  been  very  angry  on  hearing  that  the 
foreigners  condemned  idol  worship,  but  standing  there 
that  day  I  felt  in  my  heart  that  they  were  right.  A 
remark  made  by  Khai-lin  made  a  special  impression  upon 
my  mind.  An  old  woman  in  the  crowd  asked  him,  '  But 
now,  teacher,  tell  us,  how  is  this  God  of  yours  to  be 
worshipped  ? '  To  which  he  replied,  '  You  must  under- 
stand, madam,  that  this  God  whom  we  preach  is  not  the 
God  of  Western  nations  only.  He  is  the  God  of  heaven 
and  earth,  and  all  nations  and  men  alike  have  a  part  in 
Him,  and  ought  to  worship  and  serve  Him  ;  and  as  He  is 
everywhere  present  and  knows  all  things,  we  can  always 
pray  to  Him  wherever  we  are,  women  in  their  own  houses, 
and  men  when  they  are  on  a  journey  or  engaged  in 
work.'  I  was  more  and  more  interested  as  the  preaching 
went  on.  Several  persons  asked  questions,  but  I  did  not 
ask  any,  though  I  eagerly  attended  to  every  word  that 
was  said.  So  fully  was  I  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what 
was  being  said,  that  I  had  often  drawn  the  conclusion  in 
my  own  mind  before  the  preacher  had  expressed  it. 

"  When  the  preachers  had  left,  their  words  remained  in 
my  heart.      So  fully  were  my  thoughts  occupied,  that  all 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     175 

my  curiosity  about  seeing  the  foreigner  was  forgotten, 
and  I  did  not  even  inquire  where  he  was  going.  On 
my  way  to  my  own  house  I  passed  an  idol  temple  where 
I  had  been  accustomed  to  worship  very  regularly  twice  a 
month,  and  I  thought  within  my  own  mind,  '  Ay,  I  need 
come  no  more  to  you.  Now  I  will  worship  God  only.' 
I  said  nothing  to  anyone  about  what  was  passing  within 
my  heart,  but  that  night  I  could  not  sleep  for  thinking  of 
what  I  had  heard,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night  I 
resolved  to  rise  and  pray.  It  used  to  be  my  custom 
before  worshipping  the  idol  to  wash  myself,  and  I  thought 

*  O  God,  thou  art  great,  and  I  must  come  cleansed  into 
thy  presence '  ;  so  I  lighted  a  nre  and  warmed  water  for 
this  purpose,  and  then  I  prayed  to  God  for  the  first  time. 
My  wife  could  not  understand  my  conduct,  and  asked  me 

*  What  is  the  matter  ?  Can  you  not  sleep  ?  '  But  I  said 
nothing.  Up  to  this  time  I  had  been  a  zealous  idolater, 
and  had  an  incense  vessel  by  my  door  in  which  I  regularly 
burned  incense.  My  next  door  neighbour  was  also  a 
devoted  worshipper,  and  used  to  observe  the  same  daily 
service.  When  I  began  to  neglect  it,  my  neighbour  asked 
me  one  day,  "  How  does  it  happen  that  you  who  were  so 
earnest  have  given  up  all  attention  to  the  idol  ? '  I  was 
as  yet  only  making  an  experiment  to  see  whether  any 
harm  would  come  of  it,  so  I  said  nothing.  Even  my 
wife  knew  nothing  as  yet  of  my  secret  thoughts. 

"  In  about  two  months  more  I  had  to  go  away,  on 
account  of  the  sugar  harvest,  to  the  boiling  shed  where 
there  were  many  persons  employed,  and  I  was  in  great 
difficulty  as  to  how  I  should  act.  It  was  the  custom  that 
before  beginning  work  the  chief  workman  should  act  as 
spokesman  in  praying  to  the  idol  whose  shrine  was  set 
up  inside  the  shed,  so  on  the  very  first  day  I  was  called 
upon  to  do  what  I  had  come  to  see  was  wrong.  I  did 
not  venture  to  say  that  I  had  given  up  idolatry,  but 
pretending    to    be    busy    with    some    piece    of   work    in 


176     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

another  part  of  the  shed,  I  said,  '  Just  go  on  yourselves 
with  the  worship.'  '  What  does  he  say  ? '  they  asked 
one  another.  '  He  bids  us  go  on  with  the  worship  our- 
selves. What  can  he  mean  ? '  Then  after  waiting  some 
time  they  called  to  me  again,  *  Come  away  and  worship 
the  idol,'  and  I  answered  in  a  loud  and  imperious  voice 
that  they  should  go  on  by  themselves  ;  which,  after  many 
murmurs  and  whispers  of  displeasure,  they  did.  While  I 
was  at  that  place  I  prayed  every  night  to  God,  retiring 
to  a  quiet  place  for  that  purpose,  but  on  moonlight  nights 
it  was  difficult  to  avoid  being  seen.  All  this  time  I 
knew  nothing  of  trust  in  Jesus,  or  of  praying  in  His  name. 
When  the  sugar  harvest  was  nearly  over,  two  Christians 
came  to  the  village  where  I  was  at  work  to  visit  a 
Christian  woman  there.  It  so  happened  that  they  met 
the  old  gentleman  for  whom  I  was  working,  and  gave 
him  a  sheet  tract  containing  the  calendar  of  the  Sabbaths 
for  the  year.  The  old  gentleman  came  to  the  place 
where  we  were  working  and  related  the  incident  to  us, 
remarking  that  he  did  not  want  their  tract  and  gave  it 
back  to  them,  and  that  he  feared  those  two  strangers 
were  not  after  any  good  in  coming  there  to  invite  Mrs 
Pocket  to  their  meetings.  Mrs  Pocket,  also,  was  acting 
very  improperly  in  having  anything  to  do  with  foreigners 
and  worshipping  God.  All  who  were  present  agreed 
in  condemning  her  conduct.  While  they  were  going 
on  in  this  way,  I,  who  knew  better,  felt  my  heart 
burning  within  me,  and  could  refrain  no  longer,  so 
I  said  to  them,  '  You  think  that  the  worship  of  God 
is  a  bad  thing,  do  you  not  ? '  '  We  don't  have  it  here.' 
*  Yes,  but  never  mind  whether  we  have  it  or  not,  the 
question  is,  Is  it  right  or  wrong?  These  people 
worship  God  who  made  all  things  and  cares  for  us 
all,  and  instead  of  blaming  them  we  ought  all  to 
worship  Him.'  '  Oh,  then,  you  also  worship  God  ? ' 
'  Yes,'    I    replied,  '  I   do,  but  I   am    still   very    ignorant, 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     177 

and  my  worship  very  defective.'  '  Well,  well,  you  are 
ruined  entirely.      There  is  no  good  of  you  any  more.' 

"  Now  I  felt  I  was  committed,  and  must  inquire  further 
into  the  truth.  I  had  many  revilings  from  the  neighbours. 
When  I  defended  my  conduct  they  would  say,  '  Oh  !  you 
are  very  clever ;  we  must  all  come  to  learn  of  you  ! ' 
(From  which  one  may  learn  that  human  nature  in  China 
has  points  of  resemblance  with  human  nature  elsewhere.) 
A  rich  man  who  used  to  be  very  friendly  with  me  said  I 
ought  to  be  drowned  (the  village  remedy  for  cases  of 
exceptional  depravity).  The  hardest  part  of  this  trial 
was  to  find  people  so  bitter  in  their  hatred  against  teach- 
ing which  I  knew  to  be  so  good.  Mrs  Crab  came  to  ask 
me  about  the  teaching,  and  said  it  was  very  good.  '  But,' 
she  said,  *  though  the  teaching  is  so  excellent,  they  are  all 
saying  they  are  going  to  drown  you.'  '  Well,'  I  thought, 
'  I  must  be  more  decided  than  ever.'  Now  Mrs  Crab 
has  been  a  consistent  Christian  for  more  than  ten  years. 

"  Then  my  neighbour,  Mrs  Goose,  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  asked  me  why  I  did  not  now  worship  the  idol, 
and  I  said  I  now  worshipped  the  great  God.  She  be- 
lieved what  I  told  her,  and  became  a  worshipper  of  God 
also,  though  her  husband  was  very  bitterly  opposed  to 
her.  I  used  to  pray  with  her  for  the  conversion  of  her 
husband,  and  after  a  time  it  pleased  God  to  send  him  a 
disease  of  the  eyes,  so  that  he  had  to  go  to  the  hospital 
at  Swatow.  There  his  eyes  were  cured  and  his  heart 
changed,  and  he  too  became  a  Christian. 

"  I  paid  a  visit  to  my  wife's  mother,  and  told  her  about 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  true  God.  She  was 
alarmed,  and  said,  '  Son-in-law,  do  you  worship  God  as 
you  think  right,  but  don't  ask  us  to  do  so.'  Afterwards, 
however,  the  Lord  opened  her  heart,  and  she  and  her  son 
both  became  members  of  the  Church  at  lam-tsau." 

I  have  given  this  story  in  detail,  and  nearly  in  the 
words   of   the    man    himself,   because  it  is  a    convenient 


178     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

record  of  a  typical  case.  It  is  all  very  commonplace, 
and  therefore  of  intense  interest.  It  may  happen  any 
day.  There  was  no  very  keen  emotion,  and  there  was 
never  any  great  attainment  in  knowledge.  Poor  Lou-ji, 
Mr  Cormorant !  his  lights  were  never  brilliant,  but  they 
burned  true.  There  seems  to  have  been  from  the  be- 
ginning a  real  spiritual  experience.  The  Spirit,  who 
moves  where  he  will,  had  in  some  way  touched  this 
man's  heart,  and  when  he  heard  he  followed.  One  sees 
in  his  story  how  little  dogmatic  knowledge  was  needed  to 
sustain  the  beginnings  of  his  spiritual  life,  and  how 
natural  it  was  for  him,  and  how  necessary,  to  tell  to 
others  the  little  he  knew.  While  still  an  untaught 
beginner,  he  was  already  a  successful  evangelist,  and 
led  others  to  the  truth.  He  lived  a  consistent  life,  and 
in  his  later  years  was  chosen  to  be  an  elder  in  the  Church 
of  Phu-sua,  his  native  place.  One  child  died  soon  after 
he  became  a  Christian,  and  with  a  heavy  heart  he  carried 
the  body  out  in  his  arms  by  night,  and  buried  it  in 
secret,  lest  his  neighbours  should  take  occasion  to 
blaspheme  the  name  of  his  God.  His  only  son,  a 
promising  young  man  of  twenty-seven,  died  but  a  year 
before  himself  He  was  much  comforted  in  his  sorrows, 
but  felt  keenly  the  taunts  of  his  neighbours.  He  died  in 
1900,  a  true  man  to  the  last.  Now  he  understands,  and 
his  children  are  with  him  again. 

So  with  Mrs  Lim  Hang,  the  "  Beloved  Persis,"  of 
whom  I  spoke  in  the  first  lecture.  She  was  originally 
a  Buddhist  vegetarian  of  some  earnestness  when  she 
heard  Mr  Burns  preaching  in  the  open  air.  There  was 
evidently  some  preparation  of  heart,  and  she  forthwith 
believed.  She  was  a  most  zealous  evangelist  among 
the  women  for  many  a  day,  and  died  in  the  full  posses- 
sion of  her  faculties,  respected  and  loved  by  all  who 
knew  her,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight. 

Cases  such  as  these  could   be   collected   doubtless   on 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     179 

every  mission  field.  They  represent  one  of  the  results 
of  evangelistic  preaching, — the  direct  enlightenment  and 
gathering  in  of  a  few  whose  hearts  God  has  opened,  and 
these  become  the  seed  from  which  the  Church  is  to  spring. 
But  evangelistic  preaching  has  another  great  result, 
which  is  too  often  under-rated.  It  helps  to  create  an 
atmosphere  in  which  it  is  possible  for  the  nascent  Church 
to  live.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  when  this  new 
growth  first  appears  it  is  often  looked  on  with  suspicion 
and  dislike.  The  profession  of  Christianity  by  some 
plain  man  or  woman  seems  to  be  a  strange  and  perverse 
freak.  It  very  often  happens,  too,  that  the  first  Christian 
in  a  village  is  not  very  able  to  give  a  clear  explanation 
of  his  new  faith.  But  by  evangelistic  work,  carried  on 
all  over  the  country  for  a  length  of  time,  there  is  in  most 
places  some  little  knowledge  lodged  in  men's  minds  of 
what  the  Christian  teaching  is.  In  the  coursefN^f  this 
work,  too,  the  foreign  missionaries,  and  the  more  en- 
lightened church  members  become  more  or  less  known 
to  large  numbers  of  the  people.  Multitudes  who  under- 
stand nothing  of  Christian  teaching  know  at  least  that 
it  has  an  explanation  of  itself  which  it  is  in  the  habit 
of  offering  in  public  to  all  who  choose  to  hear.  Many 
even  of  those  who  have  no  thought  of  accepting  the  new 
faith  themselves,  have  come  to  know  that  it  is  a  good 
thing, — well-intentioned  at  least,  even  if  rather  impractic- 
able. I  have  often  had  it  said  to  me  :  "  Yours  is  the 
right  way.  You  come  out  into  the  open  and  tell  us 
what  your  teaching  is.  The  French  (Roman  Catholic) 
missionaries  stay  in  their  chapels  and  never  come  out 
to  talk  to  us,  but  you  have  nothing  to  hide."  Thus, 
instead  of  irritating,  as  is  often  assumed,  the  free  re- 
ligious teaching  given  everywhere  makes  a  kindly  impres- 
sion on  the  public  mind.  When  some  of  their  own  people 
begin  to  follow  the  new  way,  they  are  not  so  much  sur- 
prised.   They  have  begun  to  know  that  it  is  reasonable,  and 


i8o     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

that  it  is  morally  on  the  right  side.  They  may  not  like 
the  defection  of  their  people  from  local  customs,  but  they  see 
that  it  is  not  due  to  individual  perversity.  So,  even  if 
they  do  not  approve,  they  make  up  their  minds  to  tolerate. 

Now  the  creation  of  this  kind  of  public  opinion  is  a 
most  valuable  result  of  evangelistic  work.  It  becomes 
easier  for  individual  hearers  to  profess  the  Christian 
faith.  The  seed  of  the  kingdom  finds  itself  exposed  to 
a  less  killing  atmosphere,  and  time  is  given  for  it  to  grow. 
Thus  a  double  process  is  going  on.  By  dropping  the  seed 
in  the  prepared  hearts  of  men  and  women  one  by  one, 
and  by  so  acting  on  public  opinion  as  to  make  room  and 
air  for  its  growth,  the  evangelistic  preaching  does  its 
work. 

From  the  individual  to  the  Church  the  transition  is 
easy.  By  preaching  and  individual  dealing,  one  here  and 
another  there  is  gathered  out  from  the  mass  of  heathen- 
ism. In  many  instances  we  have  seen  how  one  convert 
brings  in  another,  and  how  this  tendency  to  bring  in 
others  may  be  found  even  where  the  Christian  life  is  only 
in  its  very  early  stages.  I  know  one  uneducated  woman 
who  has  herself  brought  in  about  lOO  persons.  The 
ultimate  result  of  such  processes  is  the  forming  of  one 
group  after  another  of  inquirers  or  Christians  who  in 
course  of  time  become  the  founders  of  the  Christian 
Church.  For  example,  when  mission  work  was  begun  in 
the  Tie-chiu  district,  the  missionaries  at  first  confined 
themselves  to  the  town  of  Swatow,  or  a  small  island  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river  which  was  then  the  residence  of 
the  foreign  community.  They  paid  occasional  visits  and 
formed  acquaintances  in  some  of  the  nearer  villages.  At 
lam-tsau,  some  twenty- two  miles  from  Swatow,  they  found 
some  remains  of  the  work  of  Mr  Lechler,  whose  residence 
there  I  have  already  described.  An  interval  of  six  or 
seven  years  had  already  elapsed  since  Lechler  had  left. 
Some  of  those  who  had  heard  from  him  had  gone  back  to 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH      i8i 

heathenism,  but  some  were  found  still  holding  on,  and  had 
even  made  progress  in  the  interval.  In  ways  like  these  a 
very  small  native  church  of  three  congregations  was 
gradually  formed.  The  native  Christians  early  became 
helpers  in  spreading  the  Gospel,  and  inquirers  were  some- 
times led  from  other  towns  in  unexpected  ways.  For 
example,  one  group  of  inquirers  was  brought  within  the 
hearing  of  the  Gospel  in  this  way.  A  number  of  women 
who  were  zealous  worshippers  of  the  idols  had  formed 
themselves  into  a  kind  of  religious  society  in  one  of  the 
western  villages.  Their  leader  was  a  woman  who  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  medium  possessed  at  times  by  the  spirits  of 
the  idols.  She  directed  their  worship,  teaching  them  to 
fast  and  pray,  and  gave  them  utterances  from  time  to 
time,  professedly  in  name  of  the  idols.  They  all  be- 
lieved in  her  as  a  sincere  and  devout  worshipper 
who  was  further  advanced  in  religious  attainments  than 
themselves.  At  length  there  came  a  time  when  she 
announced  that  she  could  do  no  more  for  them.  She 
had  taught  them  all  she  knew,  and  was  conscious  that 
her  power  was  gone.  There  seems  to  have  been  amongst 
them  some  real  sense  of  sin,  and  a  desire  for  its  forgive- 
ness, but  they  were  conscious  that  there  was  nothing  in 
idolatry  which  could  satisfy  this  desire.  Their  leader  told 
them  that  if  they  wished  anything  more  than  she  had 
been  able  to  give  them  they  must  seek  for  it  elsewhere. 
Whether  any  rumour  of  the  Christian  teaching  which  had 
begun  in  Swatow  had  come  to  her  ears  or  not,  we  do  not 
know,  but  in  one  of  her  utterances  she  said  to  them  : 
"  There  are  foreign  teachers  in  Swatow  who  can  tell  you 
of  a  Saviour  who  is  able  to  save  you.  You  need  not 
follow  me  any  longer.  I  can  do  no  more  for  you.  Go  to 
them  and  follow  their  teaching."  The  result  was  that  ten 
women,  including  the  medium,  found  their  way  to  Swatow, 
a  distance  of  about  sixty  miles,  and  came  in  one  day  to 
the  street  chapel  where  preaching  was  going  on.     They 


1 82     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

afterwards  spoke  to  the  missionaries,  and  received  further 
instruction.  They  remained  a  fortnight  in  the  town,  and 
all  of  them  were  baptised  before  they  returned.  The 
missionaries  afterwards  visited  them  in  their  own  villages, 
others  became  interested,  and  the  result  of  this  singular 
movement  was  the  planting  of  places  of  worship  in  two  or 
three  centres  in  a  district  of  country  to  the  west  which 
had  not  formerly  been  reached. 

At  this  stage  of  mission  work  when  the  number  of  wor- 
shippers is  small,  the  usual  practice  has  been  to  rent  a 
room  or  small  house,  where  those  who  are  interested  can 
iDe  gathered  together  for  Christian  instruction.  If  pos- 
sible a  native  preacher  is  placed  at  each  of  these  out- 
stations.  It  is  his  duty  to  conduct  public  worship  on  the 
Lord's  Day,  to  visit  those  who  may  be  interested  at  their 
homes,  and  to  preach  as  opportunity  offers  to  all  who  are 
willing  to  hear.  The  station  is  visited  from  time  to  time 
by  one  of  the  missionaries,  who,  besides  preaching  to  the 
Christian  worshippers,  and  to  the  others  who  gather  round 
when  a  foreigner  appears,  often  finds  his  principal  work  in 
examining  those  who  are  already  inquirers  and  applicants 
for  baptism.  Some  of  these  perhaps  have  been  brought 
in  through  the  teaching  of  the  native  preacher,  but  gener- 
*  ally  it  is  found  that  most  of  them  have  been  influenced  by 
the  words,  and  still  more  by  the  life,  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians. In  this  way  the  work  spreads  from  point  to  point, 
so  that  now,  when  about  forty  years  have  elapsed,  a  con- 
nected chain  of  stations  has  been  formed  with  Swatow  as 
the  centre,  which  reaches  more  or  less  to  every  part  of  the 
district  in  which  the  Tie-chiu  dialect  is  spoken.  It  has 
even  spread  beyond  the  bounds  of  this  dialect,  and  a 
second  mission  was  afterwards  formed  for  carrying  on 
the  work  among  the  Hak-ka  population  in  the  hill 
country.  In  early  days  the  missionaries  spent  much 
time  in  residence  at  some  of  the  stations  which  were  first 
opened.      But   as   the  number   of   stations    multiplied   it 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     183 

became  impossible  to  spend  much  time  at  each,  and  the 
work  of  supervision  became  more  and  more  arduous.  It 
was  early  seen  that  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the  de- 
mands of  growing  work  it  was  indispensable  to  make  much 
use  of  native  agency.  Efforts  were  early  made  to  open 
/Vschools  for  the  education  of  Christian  boys;  and  a  class 
of  older  men  was  formed,  with  the  view  of  training  them 
to  become  preachers  and  teachers.  Out  of  these  elemen- 
tary arrangements  has  grown  in  later  years  a  fairly  com- 
plete system  of  primary  schools  connected  with  all  the 
principal  out-stations,  high  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  and 
a  theological  college  or  training  school  at  the  mission 
centre  in  Swatow  for  training  teachers,  preachers  and 
ministers.  At  first  the  rate  of  growth  in  church  member- 
ship was  slow,  but  as  the  native  merhbers  became  them- 
selves centres  of  influence  in  their  homes  and  villages  the 
rate  of  growth  soon  showed  a  tendency  to  increase. 

In  regard  to  the  opening  of  new  stations,  it  may  be 
asked,  What  motives  first  led  the  people  to  attend  ? 
Some  come  because  they  have  already  heard  something 
of  the  truth,  and  wish  to  know  more.  Here  and  there 
may  be  one  who  has  heard  the  Gospel  in  the  course  of 
public  preaching,  but  more  have  been  brought  by  the 
teaching  and  private  influence  of  members  of  the  native 
Church.  As  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  those  who 
have  received  the  Gospel  are  instinctively  led  to  bring  in 
others  also.  "  Many  of  the  Christians,"  wrote  Celsus  in 
the  second  century,  "  without  any  special  calling,  watched 
for  all  opportunities,  and  both  within  and  without  the 
temples  boldly  proclaimed  their  faith."  In  many  cases 
the  first  worshippers  at  a  new  centre  consist  of  men  or 
women  who  have  formerly  been  going  to  some  distant 
place  of  worship  where  a  congregation  had  already  been 
formed,  and  begged  that  a  new  centre  should  be  opened 
in  their  neighbourhood.  But  while  stations  are  thus 
opened   as  the  result   of  a  real  desire  of  some  to  know 


1 84     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

the  truth,  we  are  well  aware  that  in  a  majority  of  cases 
other  influences  are  at  work.  In  a  country  like  China, 
where  the  administration  of  justice  is  exceedingly  corrupt, 
and  where  there  is  besides  among  the  people  a  universal 
passion  for  litigation,  lawsuits  and  matters  of  difficulty  are 
continually  arising  between  man  and  man.  The  decisions 
of  the  courts  in  such  cases  are  seldom  governed  by  the 
rights  of  the  matter  in  dispute.  Money  and  social  in- 
fluence are  the  main  factors  in  securing  a  successful  issue. 
Most  Chinamen  are  therefore  keenly  desirous  of  securing 
any  possible  support  or  help  in  cases  of  this  kind.  It  has 
long  been  the  practice  of  the  Roman  Catholic  missions  in 
China  to  receive  their  converts  into  a  political  protec- 
torate, giving  them  support  in  all  cases  of  dispute  with 
their  non-Christian  neighbours.  Thus  the  idea  has  sprung 
up  that  the  Christian  Church  is  of  the  nature  of  a  protec- 
tive society,  whose  members  and  leaders  will,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  support  each  other  in  all  matters  of  dispute  or 
litigation.  Again,  in  the  early  days  of  mission  work  pro- 
fessed converts  often  encountered  the  hostility  of  their 
fellow-villagers,  and  represented  their  difficulty  to  the 
early  missionaries  as  due  to  persecution  on  account  of 
their  Christian  faith.  Now  undoubtedly  many  cases 
occurred  of  real  persecution  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  and 
such  cases  are  not  unfrequent  still,  but  it  requires  not  a 
little  experience  and  great  care  to  discriminate  between 
those  cases  which  are  really  of  the  nature  of  persecution, 
and  those  which  are  not.  Even  when  it  is  true  that  a 
man  has  recently  become  a  Christian,  and  that  his  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  faith  has  led  to  an  outbreak  of 
hostility  against  him,  the  case  may  not  by  any  means  be 
one  of  pure  persecution  for  the  Gospel's  sake.  It  may 
be  only  the  latest  chapter  of  a  quarrel  which  has  no  con- 
nection with  religion,  but  which  has  been  going  on  with 
varying  fortunes  for  years,  and  possibly  for  generations, 
before.      When   the  Christians  were  very  few  and  oppo- 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     185 

sition  violent  and  keen,  missionaries  were  no  doubt  in 
some  cases  led  to  give  unwise  vent  to  their  sympathy 
with  those  who  seemed  to  be  suffering  for  their  Christian 
profession.  Incidents  like  these,  which  were  errors  of 
inexperience  on  the  part  of  Protestant  missionaries,  have 
been  so  frequent  in  the  Roman  Catholic  missions,  that 
interference  in  disputes  of  this  kind  has  become  with 
them  a  settled  policy.  Accordingly  where  a  new  group 
of  Christian  worshippers  begins  to  gather,  there  is  often  a 
tendency  for  many  others  to  join  themselves  with  them, 
who  have  no  spiritual  or  religious  interest  in  the  move- 
ment, but  have  only  private  or  worldly  ends  to  serve. 
It  is  always  necessary  in  the  beginnings  of  a  new  move- 
ment of  this  sort  to  watch  it  most  carefully,  and  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  different  elements  of  which  it  is 
composed.  Often  those  who  make  themselves  most 
prominent  as  the  leaders  of  the  new  movement,  and  most 
urgent  in  begging  to  be  recognised  as  Christian  wor- 
shippers, are  not  those  whose  influence  is  likely  to  be 
most  helpful  in  the  young  Christian  community.  They 
are  perhaps  men  of  some  social  standing  in  their  village, 
or  men  who  are  more  deeply  involved  than  others  in 
social  rivalries  or  litigations,  and  their  influence  upon  the 
young  church  is  sometimes  of  the  most  hurtful  kind. 

In  these  movements  there  may  sometimes  be  as  many  as 
two  or  three  or  four  hundred  persons  who  gather  themselves 
together  as  professed  inquirers.  A  few  of  these,  as  I  have 
said,  may  be  real  seekers  after  truth,  a  few  are  schemers 
with  their  own  ends  to  serve,  and  there  are  often  many 
who  have  more  or  less  hope  of  assistance  in  worldly 
matters,  but  who  have  no  evil  purposes  in  view.  They 
gather  where  they  see  others  going,  and  may  be  turned 
towards  good  or  evil  according  to  the  prevailing  in- 
fluences among  which  they  find  themselves.  It  is  often 
best,  in  the  early  stages  of  such  a  movement,  that  the 
foreign   missionary  should  not  appear  in  person.      Native 


1 86     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

preachers  are  first  sent  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the 
people,  and  to  give  them  day  by  day  elementary  instruc- 
tion in  Christian  truth.  A  place  of  meeting  for  worship 
is  provided  by  the  people  themselves,  either  without  or 
with  some  pecuniary  assistance  from  the  mission  funds. 
After  a  time,  when  the  first  novelty  of  the  movement 
has  a  little  worn  off  and  the  preacher  has  made  some 
acquaintance  with  those  concerned,  the  missionary  may 
with  more  advantage  appear  upon  the  scene. 

Occasionally  mission  stations  have  been  opened  in 
certain  towns  before  any  movement  at  all  has  appeared, 
simply  on  the  ground  that  the  place  is,  as  it  were,  of  some 
strategic  importance  for  reaching  some  new  district  of 
country  ;  but  this  happens  very  rarely,  and  in  almost  all 
cases  a  new  station  is  planted  where  for  some  reason  a 
movement  of  inquiry  has  already  begun.  One  may  say, 
therefore,  that  the  stage  of  evangelistic  preaching  usually 
leads  on  naturally  to  the  stage  of  church  planting.  What 
takes  place  at  one  of  these  new  centres  is  something  like 
the  following.  After  a  native  preacher  has  been  in 
occupation  for  a  few  weeks  or  months,  the  foreign 
missionary  arrives  at  the  place,  say,  on  a  Saturday  after- 
noon. He  finds  a  native  house  or  shop  which  has  been 
rented  for  the  purposes  of  Christian  worship.  A  table  and 
benches  have  been  provided.  There  is  usually  a  small 
room  attached,  in  which  the  preacher  lives,  and  which  is 
given  up  for  the  missionary's  occupation  during  the  time 
of  his  visit.  Sheets  of  red  paper  have  been  prepared,  with 
appropriate  inscriptions  indicative  of  the  uses  of  a  place  of 
worship,  or  of  the  elements  of  Christian  teaching.  A 
phrase  equivalent  to  "  Worship  Hall,"  or  "  Gospel  Hall," 
is  written  up  over  the  doorway.  If  the  place  is  one  where 
a  foreigner  has  seldom  been  seen  before,  a  crowd  of  the 
neighbours  or  townspeople  gathers  immediately  on  the 
missionary's  arrival.  With  the  help  of  the  native  preacher 
he  takes  the  opportunity  of  preaching  to  these  people  as 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     187 

long  as  they  care  to  listen,  and  this  sometimes  goes  on 
for  several  hours.  Usually  the  desire  to  see  the  foreigner 
is  so  keen  that  the  crowd  becomes  a  little  tumultuous,  and 
it  sometimes  seems  as  if  it  would  be  hopeless  to  hold 
quiet  meetings  for  worship.  But  when  evening  falls 
curiosity  has  been  partially  satisfied,  and  the  arrival  of 
supper-time  draws  the  people  away  and  gives  an  interval 
of  quiet.  Later  in  the  evening  one  and  another  of  those 
in  the  neighbourhood  who  are  already  worshippers  begin 
to  gather,  and  presently  the  room  or  shop  is  filled  with  a 
quiet  audience  of  persons  who  already  know  something  of 
Christian  truth.  Most  of  these  are  provided  with  hymn- 
books  and  New  Testaments,  though  only  a  few  of  them 
may  be  really  able  to  read.  Besides  these,  a  number  of 
on-lookers  often  come  in.  But  they  are  now  somewhat 
held  in  check  by  those  who  are  already  in  possession,  and 
stand  quietly  about  the  door  to  see  and  hear,  without 
interrupting  the  work  of  the  evening.  We  usually  begin 
such  meetings  with  singing  and  prayer,  and  perhaps  read 
a  portion  of  Scripture.  Another  diet  of  preaching  begins, 
but  this  time  it  is  not  addressed  to  a  purely  heathen 
audience,  but  is  designed  rather  for  the  instruction  of 
those  who  have  begun  already  to  profess  themselves 
Christians.  When  the  preaching  is  over,  we  ask  those 
present  whether  any  of  them  wish  to  give  in  their  names 
as  applicants  for  baptism.  Sometimes  a  list  has  been 
already  prepared  by  the  local  preacher,  but  in  any  case  it 
is  well  to  ask  the  people  to  give  their  names  anew,  so  that 
the  missionary  may  be  able  to  see  and  recognise  them  one 
by  one.  Generally  there  are  a  few  whose  minds  are 
already  made  up,  and  who  give  their  names  without 
hesitation.  Others  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
attending  worship  but  are  not  fully  prepared  to  commit 
themselves  to  a  public  profession  sometimes  hang  back. 
In  each  case  we  ask  for  name,  surname,  age  and  resi- 
dence, and  make  a  note  of  these  particulars  in  a  list  to  be 


1 88     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

kept  for  future  reference.  On  a  first  visit  only  a  few 
names  may  be  given  in,  or  there  may  be  as  many  as 
twenty  or  thirty.  I  have  on  a  few  occasions  taken  fifty 
or  sixty.  Sometimes  a  beginning  is  made  at  once  in 
examining  these  applicants  individually  in  regard  to  their 
knowledge  of  Christian  truth.  Questions  are  also  put 
with  regard  to  their  families  and  their  occupations,  and  an 
endeavour  is  made  to  ascertain  whether  they  have  already 
been  making  an  open  profession  of  Christianity  amongst 
their  own  people,  and  whether  they  have  been  met  at 
home  with  sympathy  or  opposition.  This  individual 
examination  of  the  applicants  often  goes  on  till  a  late 
hour,  and  it  is  perhaps  midnight  before  the  meeting  is 
finally  brought  to  an  end.  When  the  last  of  the  people 
have  retired,  the  missionary  and  preacher,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  others,  are  left  by  themselves  in  the  chapel, 
where  they  spend  the  night.  Next  morning,  soon  after 
daybreak,  the  Christians  begin  again  to  gather.  Some- 
times as  early  as  five  or  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  you 
can  hear  them  singing  hymns  at  an  early  gathering  for 
prayer.  As  soon  as  breakfast  is  over,  the  work  of 
examining  applicants  can  be  resumed,  and  this  goes  on 
till  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  It  is  well  to 
take  an  opportunity  as  early  as  possible  of  consulting  the 
preacher  as  to  the  names  that  have  been  given  in.  He  is 
often  able  to  give  valuable  information  about  individual 
cases,  which  guides  one  in  the  work  of  examination.  If 
he  is  a  man  of  experience  and  tact  he  is  often  able  to 
point  out  those  who  have  come  from  unworthy  motives, 
or  who  have  any  selfish  ends  to  serve,  and  can  often  give 
a  helpful  opinion  as  to  which  of  the  applicants  have  given 
more  indication  of  real  spiritual  life  and  interest  in  the 
truth.  With  the  assistance  of  such  information  as  he 
gives,  the  more  hopeful  cases  can  be  gone  into  with  more 
minuteness,  and  if  the  list  of  applicants  is  a  long  one,  it 
can,  by  a  process  of  sifting,  be  reduced  to  manageable 


THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  CHURCH     189 

dimensions.  We  have  generally  found  it  advantageous 
to  conduct  these  examinations  in  public,  although  in  some 
mission  fields  this  work  is  done  more  privately.  The 
public  examination,  with  some  drawbacks,  has  many 
advantages.  The  questions  put,  and  the  answers  given, 
often  give  to  all  who  are  present  an  opportunity  of  hearing 
a  large  .  amount  of  useful  teaching  reduced  to  its  most 
simple  and  elementary  forms.  The  applicant,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  an  opportunity  of  giving  his  testimony 
with  some  degree  of  publicity,  which  is  helpful  for  con- 
firming his  own  resolution,  and  also  for  impressing  the 
minds  of  others.  Again,  with  a  people  like  the  Chinese, 
one  cannot  afford  to  forget  that  attempts  may  be  made  to 
deceive  us,  and  when  a  man  is  speaking  in  the  presence 
of  those  who  know  well  his  daily  life  and  character  he  is 
less  likely  to  pervert  the  truth.  Sometimes,  too,  mis- 
apprehensions are  brought  to  light  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  a  favourable  opportunity  for  correcting  them  there 
and  then  within  the  hearing  of  all.  Of  course,  if  any 
matters  of  a  private  nature  are  touched  on,  these  can  be 
reserved  for  after  treatment.  One  manifest  drawback  to 
the  system  of  public  examination  is  that,  where  a  large 
number  of  persons  have  to  be  examined  in  succession 
upon  the  elements  of  Christian  truth,  it  is  difficult  to 
avoid  falling  into  ruts  and  repeating  the  same  questions, 
and  so  giving  opportunity  for  formality  in  the  replies. 
It  is  often  a  severe  strain  on  the  questioner's  ingenuity  to 
vary  the  line  of  examination  with  each  applicant,  while 
yet  ensuring  that  the  main  outlines  of  Christian  knowledge 
are  covered  in  each  case.  ^  Valuable  assistance  may  often 
be  got  in  such  work  by  asking  the  native  preacher  to  take 
his  turn  in  conducting  the  examination.  By  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock  it  will  usually  be  found  that  the  worshippers  are 
all  assembled,  and  public  worship  may  begin.  This  is 
conducted  very  much  on  the  lines  of  an  ordinary  service 
at  home,  except  that  in  preaching  we  use  a  larger  freedom, 


I90     SECOND   STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

and  often  interrupt  the  course  of  our  addresses  by  using 
the  method  of  question  and  answer.  This  is  very  helpful 
to  an  audience  who  are  not  accustomed  to  listening  to  a 
continuous  discourse,  and  the  answers  often  serve  to  bring 
out  the  needs  of  the  people  so  as  to  guide  the  preacher  in 
his  teaching.  The  service  is  usually  over  by  twelve  or 
one  o'clock,  and  if  the  examination  of  applicants  has  not 
been  completed  already,  it  can  now  be  continued.  But  it 
is  often  desirable  at  this  stage  to  consult  with  the  local 
preacher  as  to  the  immediate  admission  to  baptism  of  any 
of  those  already  examined.  This  is  difficult  and  anxious 
work,  and  we  hardly  ever  baptise  any  on  a  first  visit ;  but 
when  a  second  or  third  visit  has  been  reached  there  will 
sometimes  be  found  a  few  whose  knowledge  seems  to  be 
sufficient,  and  to  whose  character  good  testimony  is  borne 
by  the  preacher  himself,  or  by  others  who  may  be  con- 
sulted. Much  of  the  future  prosperity  of  the  station  will 
depend  upon  the  character  of  those  who  are  first  baptised, 
and  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  the  utmost  caution  at  this 
stage.  Those  who  are  received  as  the  first  members  of 
the  church  in  a  new  place  will  for  some  time  to  come  be 
naturally  looked  up  to  by  others  as  the  type  and  example 
of  Christian  life.  Should  their  conduct  be  unsatisfactory, 
it  will  lower  the  tone  of  all,  and  we  have  seen  congre- 
gations suffer  for  many  years  through  the  unworthy 
character  of  those  who  were  their  first  members. 

If  some  are  selected  for  baptism,  they  are  called  in  and 
spoken  to  in  private  with  a  view  to  deepening  in  their 
minds  the  sense  of  responsibility  in  regard  to  the  step 
they  are  taking.  Meantime  worshippers  from  a  distance 
have  been  cooking  and  eating  their  mid-day  meal  in  the 
chapel  or  its  neighbourhood,  and  by  two  or  three  'o'clock 
all  are  ready  for  meeting  again.  Another  service  of 
praise  and  prayer  with  reading  and  preaching  prepares 
the  way  for  administration  of  baptism.  It  is  always 
desirable  in  such  cases  to  give  suitable  explanations   of 


THE  PLANTING  OF   THE  CHURCH     191 

the  meaning  and  purpose  of  this  ordinance,  both  for  the 
guidance  of  the  Christian  worshippers  themselves,  and  for 
the  information  of  outside  onlookers.  Those  who  have  been 
selected  for  baptism  are  asked  to  stand  up  in  the  presence 
of  all,  and  a  few  questions  are  put  to  them  in  answer  to 
which  they  give  their  assent  to  the  great  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  faith,  declaring  that  they  have  renounced  all 
complicity  in  idolatry  and  other  heathen  customs,  and  are 
resolved  by  God's  grace  to  worship  and  serve  Him  alone, 
professing  themselves  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  ac- 
knowledging Him  as  their  only  Saviour.  They  are  then 
asked  to  kneel  down  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  special 
prayer  being  offered  in  their  behalf,  they  are  named  one 
by  one  in  the  presence  of  all,  and  baptised  with  water  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  In  the 
circumstances  of  a  young  Church  on  heathen  soil  the  out- 
ward aspects  of  such  a  service  are  extremely  simple,  and 
yet  there  is  often  a  considerable  impression  made,  even 
upon  the  minds  of  the  onlookers,  who  have  hitherto  been 
strangers  to  Christian  teaching.  They  almost  invariably 
conduct  themselves  with  perfect  decorum,  and  offer  no 
interruption  to  what  is  being  done.  At  the  worst,  friendly 
remonstrance  will  almost  invariably  check  any  tendency 
to  disturbance  and  secure  quiet. 

Some  such  scene  as  I  have  now  described  has  been 
seen  again  and  again  on  the  mission  field  at  the  planting 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  some  new  centre.  From  the 
stage  of  purely  evangelistic  work  the  stage  of  the  planting 
of  the  Church  has  thus  been  reached.  A  fresh  proof  has 
been  seen  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  the  power  of  God 
unto  salvation,  in  the  turning  into  new  channels  of  lives 
which  hitherto  have  been  under  the  unbroken  power  of 
heathenism.  But  the  missionary's  anxieties  might  almost 
be  said  only  to  begin  when  the  church  is  thus  planted. 
When  one  considers  the  lives  that  lie  behind  these  new 
disciples,  and  the  temptations  and  trials  which  lie  around 


192     SECOND  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

and  before  them,  one  cannot  look  upon  their  first  profes- 
sion of  the  Christian  faith  without  a  strong  feehng  of 
sympathy,  not  unmixed  with  anxiety. 

In  the  late  afternoon  of  a  busy  day  such  as  I  have 
described,  it  is  with  a  great  sense  of  relief  that  one  goes 
out  from  the  crowded  and  heated  place  of  meeting  to 
enjoy  the  fresh  air  out  of  doors.  Good  use  may  some- 
times be  made  of  the  time  by  accompanying  some  of 
the  worshippers  to  their  homes  and  so  making  fuller  ac- 
quaintance with  them  in  a  pleasant  and  friendly  way. 
Or  one  may  visit  someone  who  has  been  sick  and  unable 
to  attend  worship,  and  opportunities  are  often  found  for 
some  brief  preaching  to  those  outside.  In  the  evening  a 
very  happy  and  helpful  time  may  be  spent  with  those  of 
the  worshippers  who  live  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood. 
Prayer  and  conversation,  with  sometimes  the  examination 
of  such  applicants  as  may  not  have  been  reached  in  the 
course  of  the  day,  fills  up  the  time.  All  missionaries  have 
spent  many  laborious  days  of  this  kind,  but  can  often 
look  back  to  such  scenes  with  great  joy  and  thankfulness. 
It  is  from  these  small  beginnings  that  there  spring  the 
Christian  churches  on  which  must  rest  the  main  burden  of 
the  evangelisation  of  a  great  heathen  people.  On  Monday 
morning  the  missionary  starts  early  for  some  other  station, 
or  for  the  mission  centre,  where  other  work  awaits  him. 

It  is  often  cause  of  no  little  anxiety  to  us  that  visits  to 
these  young  churches  cannot  be  very  frequently  repeated. 
There  may  be  only  one  or  two  missionaries  at  the  mission 
centre,  distances  are  great  and  travelling  is  slow,  and 
months  may  pass  before  it  is  possible  to  revisit  a  station. 
In  the  meantime  the  whole  charge  must  remain  i^  the 
hands  of  a  native  preacher,  who  has  not  only  to  preach 
the  Gospel  and  conduct  worship  on  the  Lord's  Day,  but 
has  to  be  the  adviser  of  beginners  in  the  Christian  life, 
in  all  the  perplexing  circumstances  and  the  many  varied 
temptations  which  must  inevitably  arise. 


LECTURE   VIII 

THE  THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK  :    ORGANISATION  OF 
THE  CHURCH,  AND  CULTURE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

I  HAVE  now  described  the  work  that  falls  to  the  lot  of 
the  missionary  in  passing  through  the  stage  of  evangelistic 
preaching  to  that  of  the  planting  of  the  Christian  church. 
At  this  point  a  new  series  of  difficulties  and  anxieties 
begins.  When  next  the  station  is  visited  one  is  anxious 
to  know  whether  those  baptised  on  the  last  occasion  have 
made  progress  in  their  Christian  life,  and  whether  those 
of  the  inquirers  who  were  not  then  received  have  now 
advanced  so  far  as  to  justify  their  admission.  Provision 
must  also  be  made  for  the  continuance  of  public  worship, 
and  it  may  not  always  be  possible  at  first  to  send  a 
preacher  to  a  new  station.  Sometimes  temporary  arrange- 
ments must  be  made  for  carrying  on  the  work,  by  occa- 
sional visits  from  preachers  or  private  Christians  at  some 
neighbouring  station.  Often  the  house  which  had  been 
secured  by  the  local  worshippers  for  their  meetings  is 
insufficient  for  the  growing  numbers  who  attend,  or  may 
not  have  been  wisely  selected  with  a  view  to  permanent 
work.  Or  it  may  belong  to  some  of  themselves,  and  have 
been  only  lent  at  considerable  inconvenience,  and  arrange- 
ments must  be  made  as  soon  as  possible  for  larger  and 
more  suitable  accommodation.  At  this  stage  one  at  once 
comes  upon  the  profoundly  important  question  of  the 
self-support  of  the  native  church.  Rents  are  often  low, 
and  it  would  be  easy  for  the  missionary  in  many  cases  to 
promise  at  once  the  amount  required  to  rent  a  suitable 
place,  but  by  doing  so  he  puts  himself  and  the  young 

N  ^93 


194      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

church  in  a  false  relation  at  the  outset.  It  is  better 
to  teach  them  to  make  their  own  arrangements,  the 
missionary  guiding  by  advice  from  his  larger  experience 
of  their  probable  requirements,  and  only  in  the  last  resort 
giving  pecuniary  help.  At  this  stage  a  good  native 
preacher  can  render  invaluable  assistance,  if  he  can  be 
allowed  to  live  amongst  the  people  for  some  weeks  or 
months,  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  them  and 
their  circumstances.  He  is  usually  a  shrewd  judge  of 
character,  and  soon  learns  who  are  the  men  into  whose 
hands  the  affairs  of  the  young  church  can  most  safely  be 
committed.  At  the  same  time,  if  he  is  himself  an  earnest 
and  faithful  preacher,  his  life  amongst  the  people  is  a 
most  valuable  lesson  to  them.  If  he  shows  himself  will- 
ing to  submit  to  discomfort  and  annoyance,  and  to  be 
more  anxious  for  their  good  than  for  his  own  ease,  he 
leads  them  on  insensibly  to  a  readiness  to  make  efforts 
and  sacrifices  for  the  good  of  all.  We  have  usually  been 
able  to  carry  on  the  work  of  a  new  station  for  some  years 
in  any  Chinese  house  that  might  be  available  with  com- 
paratively slight  alteration.  A  small  room  is  set  apart 
for  the  preacher  to  live  in,  and  another,  if  possible,  for  the 
visiting  missionaries.  The  central  room  is  used  as  the 
place  of  worship,  and  a  side-room  next  to  it  is  set  apart 
for  the  women  of  the  congregation.  To  enable  them  to 
see  and  hear  during  public  worship  a  large  opening  is 
made  through  the  partition  wall  which  divides  their  room 
from  the  central  one.  But  in  south  China  we  are  now 
reaching  a  stage  when  these  primitive  arrangements  seem 
hardly  sufficient.  Where  large  numbers  are  in  attendance, 
the  ordinary  Chinese  house,  such  as  can  be  most  readily 
rented,  affords  insufficient  accommodation,  and  we  see 
with  considerable  regret  that  in  future  it  will  probably  be- 
come increasingly  necessary  to  build  places  of  worship 
at  an  early  stage. 

When  a  new  church  has  been  formed,  however  few  the 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      195 

worshippers  may  be,  it  is  never  too  soon  to  begin  to  teach 
them  to  contribute  for  the  expenses  of  their  own  church. 
It  is  easier  to  begin  early  than  to  begin  late.  In  former 
times  missionaries  were  often  tempted  to  do  all  that  was 
necessary  for  these  young  congregations  during  the  early 
years  of  work  amongst  them.  The  result  was  that  it  was 
looked  upon  by  the  native  Church  as  only  natural  and 
right  that  the  missionaries  should  meet  all  kinds  of  ex- 
penses connected  with  Christian  worship.  There  have 
been  cases  in  which  the  missionary  not  only  provided  the 
house  where  the  Christians  could  meet  for  worship,  but 
fitted  it  out  with  all  necessary  furniture,  tables,  chairs, 
benches  and  books,  and  even  met  their  current  expendi- 
ture for  lights,  tea  and  tobacco !  This  grew  out  of  the 
native  custom  which  was  not  unnaturally  followed  at  the 
outset.  In  any  shop,  or  school,  or  public  building  which 
one  may  enter,  tea  and  a  pipe  are  almost  always  found  in 
readiness,  and  are  offered  to  visitors,  and  for  that  reason 
the  same  arrangement  was  observed  in  evangelistic  halls. 

'  If  the  duty  of  giving  for  the  support  of  Christian  work 
is  early  put  before  the  minds  of  the  converts,  their  own 
consciences  and  feeling  of  self-respect  naturally  respond, 
and  one  is  often  surprised  at  how  much  may  be  done  by 
poor  people  when  their  heart  is  in  the  matter.  They 
readily  learn  the  habit  of  making  an  offering  at  each  of 
their  meetings  for  worship,  and  they  appoint  some  of 
their  number  to  receive  their  monies,  and  keep  an  accu- 
rate account  of  income  and  expenditure.  The  sums 
handled  may  be  small,  but  this  arrangement  gives  scope 
for  practical  training  in  the  honest  management  of  public 
funds. 

Probably  in  every  new  movement  towards  Christianity 
it  will  be  found  that  there  are  one  or  two  of  the  earliest 
worshippers  who  seem  naturally  fitted  for  taking  the  lead. 
It  often  becomes  an  anxious  question  whether  they  are  at 
the  same  time  those  whose  character  is  likely  to  exercise 


196      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

2l  wholesome  spiritual  influence.  If  they  are  leaders  only 
because  before  becoming  Christians  they  were  men  of 
wealth  or  social  standing,  it  will  need  some  care  and  tact 
to  prevent  their  giving  the  whole  movement  an  unspiritual 
and  worldly  tone. 

When  this  point  is  reached,  the  question  becomes  in- 
evitable whether  it  is  the  missionary's  duty  to  give  the 
native  church  a  formal  organisation,  and  if  so,  which  of 
all  the  forms  of  organisation  now  extant  in  the  Church 
universal  he  is  to  select  and  recommend  to  them. 

It  is  obviously  impossible  to  sit  down  with  these  people, 
who  have  only  begun  their  Christian  course,  and  whose 
knowledge  of  Christian  truth  is  for  the  most  part  very 
elementary,  and  ask  them  to  choose  a  particular  form  of 
Church  organisation.  It  cannot  be  made  clear  to  them 
by  explanation  how  the  Church  in  the  West  has  become 
divided  into  bodies  organised  some  on  the  Episcopal, 
some  on  the  Congregational,  and  some  on  the  Presby- 
terian basis.  Even  if  the  distinction  between  these 
methods  could  be  made  clear  to  them,  they  have  neither 
the  knowledge  of  Scripture  nor  the  experience  of  Church 
life  which  would  enable  them  to  form  an  intelligent 
opinion  as  to  the  respective  merits  of  each  system.  Nor 
on  the  other  hand  is  it  possible  to  postpone  indefinitely 
the  whole  subject.  If  no  guidance  is  given  them  in 
organising  the  native  church,  you  are  practically  giving 
them  Congregationalism  as  their  type  of  Church  govern- 
ment. Besides,  practical  evils  soon  spring  up  which  must 
be  remedied  without  delay. 

This  problem  is  perhaps  simpler  in  China  than  in  some 
other  mission  fields.  The  Chinese  have  a  natural  instinct 
for  self-government,  and  this  instinct  has  been  greatly 
strengthened  by  national  custom.  With  them  the  family 
is  the  unit  of  social  life  ;  the  father's  authority  over  his 
sons  and  their  children  is  the  type  of  political  organisa- 
tion  and   civil   government.     The  chief  magistrate  of  a 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      197 

district  is  spoken  of  as  father  and  mother  of  its  in- 
habitants, while  the  Emperor  is  regarded  as  the  father  of 
his  people.  Besides  the  recognition  of  the  paternal 
principle  as  underlying  political  organisation,  it  has 
received  a  wide  application  in  the  department  of  local 
popular  government.  The  political  system  of  adminis- 
tration by  magistrates  who  hold  their  appointments  from 
the  Imperial  Government,  while  extremely  complete  and 
highly  organised,  is  not  in  China  the  main  guarantee  for 
public  peace  and  order.  A  great  deal  is  left  to  the 
people  themselves,  and  the  principle  of  local  popular 
government  is  widely  practised.  It  is  not,  however,  a 
machinery  established  by  law  ;  it  is  rather  a  natural 
growth  which  the  law  has  wisely  recognised,  and  of  which 
it  takes  advantage  to  supplement  its  own  deficiencies. 
Every  village  and  every  section  of  a  town  has  its  own 
head  men,  who  stand  between  the  body  of  the  people  and 
the  officers  of  the  law.  These  head  men  hold  no  govern- 
ment appointment.  They  are  not  even  formally  elected 
by  the  people  whom  they  represent.  They  are  simply 
men  who,  because  of  their  years  or  ability  or  social 
position,  have  acquired  influence  and  standing  amongst 
their  fellow-townsmen.  Without  formal  election  they 
come  to  be  recognised  as  the  authoritative  heads  of  the 
people.  In  a  village  of  a  few  hundred  inhabitants  there 
may  be  three  or  four  such  men.  A  large  village  is 
usually  divided  into  several  sections,  each  of  which  has  its 
head  men,  and  there  may  be  ten  or  fifteen  in  all.  They 
levy  assessments  upon  the  people  for  all  public  purposes 
of  a  local  kind  ;  they  issue  regulations  from  time  to 
time  for  the  preservation  of  order ;  they  choose  com- 
mittees for  the  protection  of  growing  crops ;  they  re- 
gulate the  markets  and  adjust  disputes  between  members 
of  the  clan  or  inhabitants  of  the  village  to  which  they 
belong.  In  case  of  crime  it  is  to  them  the  magistrates 
look  for  the  detection  and  arrest  of  the  criminal.     Failing 


198      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

this,  they  are  themselves  made  personally  responsible, 
and  may  be  punished  by  heavy  fines,  which  in  turn  they 
levy  from  the  people  of  the  village.  All  this  seems  to  be 
a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  family  government,  and  forms 
a  system  of  local  government  very  extensively  practised 
in  countries  like  China  and  India,  in  which  we  find  a  high 
civilisation  which  is  based  upon  primitive  customs  and 
ideas. 

Now,  when  the  working  of  the  same  idea  is  transferred 
to  the  management  of  Church  affairs,  one  cannot  help 
feeling  that  our  Presbyterian  system  is  singularly  adapted 
to  it.  The  Chinese  have  really  been  Presbyterians  before 
they  became  Christians  ;  or  to  look  at  the  matter  from 
another  point  of  view,  the  system  of  Presbytery,  so  far  as 
it  is  sketched  for  us  in  the  New  Testament,  is  an  adapta- 
tion, on  the  one  hand,  of  the  patriarchal  arrangements  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  on  the  other,  of  the  organisation 
of  the  guilds  and  friendly  societies  of  the  Roman  Empire ; 
and  these  in  turn  only  represent  universal  principles  of 
social  order  which  grow  up  naturally  among  all  primitive 
peoples.  In  short,  Presbyterianism  is  not  based  upon 
any  fine-spun  ecclesiastical  theory,  nor  does  it  rest  mainly 
upon  any  theological  basis.  It  derives  at  once  its 
strength  and  elasticity  from  the  fact  that  it  is,  after  all, 
little  more  than  an  application  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  of  the  same  principles  of  social  equality  and 
common  sense  which  have  formed  the  basis  of  the  largest 
and  most  lasting  of  the  political  arrangements  of  great 
races. 

Thus  in  dealing  with  a  young  Church  recently  planted 
in  a  heathen  country  we  do  not  seek  on  theoretical  ground 
to  establish  a  form  of  Church  order  and  organisation 
which  shall  reflect  in  all  its  details  the  organisation  of  the 
Church  at  home.  What  we  do  is  rather  this  :  in  view  of 
practical  needs  which  must  be  met,  or  practical  evils 
which  must  be  removed,  we  seek  to  make  the  best  use 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      199 

of  the  material  which  we  have  ready  to  our  hand  ;  that 
is  to  say,  among  the  earliest  members  of  the  native 
Church,  as  soon  as  it  has  reached  sufficient  dimensions, 
say  when  the  membership  has  reached  to  twenty  or 
thirty  persons,  we  seek  out  those  who  seem  to  be  best 
fitted,  by  natural  ability  and  by  Christian  character,  to 
become  the  leaders  of  the  small  community.  In  this 
choice  we  do  not  rely  mainly  upon  our  own  judgment. 
We  are  guided  in  part  by  the  preacher  in  charge,  and  he 
in  turn  forms  his  opinion  not  only  from  his  own  observa- 
tion, but  by  consultation  with  the  members  of  the  local 
church.  We  explain  to  the  people  that  while  it  has  been 
our  privilege  to  preach  to  them  the  Word  of  God,  and  to 
watch  over  the  formation  of  the  native  Church,  we  shall 
look  to  them  mainly  for  its  proper  government  and  growth. 
We  teach  them  to  feel  that  the  responsibility  of  witness- 
ing for  the  Gospel  and  bringing  in  others,  and  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  orderly  and  proper  conduct  of  Church 
affairs,  rests  with  them.  We  therefore  suggest  to  them 
to  choose  amongst  themselves  those  whom  they  can  best 
trust  to  act  as  their  leaders  and  representatives,  and  in 
some  such  way  as  this  we  reach  the  stage  of  the  first 
election  and  ordination  of  elders  or  deacons.  It  riot 
infrequently  happens  that  deacons  are  first  appointed, 
both  because  money  matters  require  attention  from  the 
earliest  period  and  because  the  exercise  of  the  office  of 
deacon  is  often  the  best  test  and  training  for  those  who 
are  afterwards  called  to  bear  the  wider  responsibilities  of 
the  eldership. 

In  some  such  way  as  has  now  been  sketched  we  reach 
the  elements  of  a  Church  organisation.  The  missionary 
visits  the  station  from  time  to  time  as  other  engagements 
will  allow,  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  months,  or  at 
intervals  of  six  or  twelve  months,  according  to  the 
demands  upon  his  time,  and  the  distance  of  the  station 
from  the  mission  centre.     The  work  of  the  congregation 


200      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

is  carried  on  by  the  native  preacher  and  the  local  office- 
bearers ;  and  when  the  missionary  returns  to  visit  the 
station  he  usually  finds  a  number  of  new  applicants  for 
baptism,  and  finds  that  others  with  whom  he  has  met  on 
previous  occasions  have  been  making  progress  in  know- 
ledge and  character.  On  these  later  visits  his  main  work 
consists  in  preaching  to  the  congregation  for  their  instruc- 
tion and  growth  in  grace  ;  dealing  with  the  applicants  for 
baptism,  and  also,  with  the  help  of  the  local  elders, 
exercising  some  supervision  over  the  life  and  conduct  of 
those  already  admitted  to  the  Church. 

In  regard  to  the  admission  of  members  to  the  Church 
by  baptism,  there  is  a  difference  of  method,  if  not  of 
principle,  among  missionaries.  There  are  some  who 
contend  that  everyone  who  desires  baptism  should  be 
received,  however  little  his  knowledge  of  Christian  truth 
may  be,  and  however  little  knowledge  the  missionary  may 
have  of  his  life  and  character.  They  say  that  his  willing- 
ness to  profess  himself  a  Christian  and  to  receive  Christian 
instruction  sufficiently  justifies  his  baptism  ;  that  the 
Church  is  the  proper  training  place  for  Christians  ;  and  that 
the  development  of  Christian  knowledge  and  character,  if. 
not  conversion  itself,  should  rather  follow  than  precede 
admission  to  the  Church  in  baptism.  This  principle  has 
been  largely  followed  in  southern  India,  and  is  being 
followed  also  in  some  parts  of  China.  It  is  perhaps  too 
soon  to  form  an  opinion  founded  upon  actual  experience 
as  to  what  the  ultimate  results  of  this  method  will  be.  In 
our  own  mission  we  have  not  felt  it  right  to  follow  it. 
Our  practice  has  rather  been  to  watch  closely  the  growth 
in  knowledge  and  character  of  those  who  present  them- 
selves as  applicants  for  baptism,  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time.  We  almost  never  baptise  those  with  whom  we 
meet  for  the  first  time.  We  have  not  fixed  any  definite 
period  of  probation,  but  in  practice  most  of  those  whom 
we  receive  into  the  Church  have  been  worshippers  for  one 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      201 

or  two  years  before  they  are  baptised.  In  our  choice  of 
those  whom  we  think  it  right  to  receive,  we  are  guided 
partly  by  the  degree  of  knowledge  which  they  show  in  the 
examinations  for  baptism  to  which  I  have  already  referred. 
Perhaps  one  should  say  that  we  are  guided  less  by  the 
actual  degree  of  knowledge  attained  than  by  the  amount 
of  progress  shown  between  one  visit  and  another  ;  and  in 
estimating  the  significance  of  the  progress  made,  we  are 
guided  largely  by  the  age  and  apparent  capacities  of  the 
individual  concerned.  For  example,  when  one  meets 
with  a  candidate  who  is  young  and  intellectually  bright, 
especially  if  able  to  read  and  having  good  opportunities 
for  learning,  one  requires  a  much  higher  standard  of 
knowledge  than  in  the  case  of  old  and  dull  people,  who 
are  uneducated  and  have  few  opportunities  of  receiving 
instruction.  But  we  are  guided  in  our  decisions  most  of 
all  by  the  testimony  given  by  neighbours,  and  by  the 
local  preacher  and  elders,  as  to  the  home  life  of  the 
candidates,  and  the  reputation  which  they  bear  amongst 
their  neighbours. 

It  is  sometimes  objected  to  this  method  that  it  seems 
to  differ  widely  from  the  apostolic  practice,  and  that  the 
free  admission  of  all  who  seek  it  resembles  more  the 
practice  recorded  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Now  I 
admit  frankly  that  it  is  not  easy  to  justify  clearly  to  one's 
mind  the  more  cautious  method  by  actual  New  Testament 
examples  ;  but  one  feels  that  the  argument  from  the  New 
Testament  must  not  be  pressed  too  far,  the  circumstances 
being  in  many  ways  widely  different.  Apart  from  the 
question  which  might  be  raised  as  to  the  possession  by  the 
apostolic  missionaries  of  the  early  Church  of  a  special 
spiritual  insight  and  divine  guidance  in  their  work,  there 
are  other  elements  which  must  be  taken  into  account. 
The  apostle  Paul  in  his  missionary  journeys  made  a 
practice  of  beginning  his  work  amongst  the  Jewish  com- 
munities, and   so   far   as  his   converts  were  drawn    from 


202      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

amongst  them  he  was  able  to  assume  a  large  amount  of 
knowledge  of  divine  truth  as  taught  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  a  spiritual  preparation  which  is  almost  wholly  lacking 
among  those  with  whom  we  have  to  deal  in  the  modern 
mission  field.  Again,  the  apostle,  even  in  his  longest 
journeys,  was  still  dealing  with  those  who  were  members 
of  the  same  state  with  himself.  Jew,  Greek,  Roman, 
were  all  alike  under  the  control  of  the  Roman  Emperor, 
and  the  apostle  went  amongst  them  as  one  of  themselves. 
In  the  modern  mission  it  is  inevitable  that  the  missionary 
goes  amongst  his  hearers,  not  only  as  the  representative  of 
a  more  spiritual  religion  than  their  own,  but  as  the 
representative  also  of  a  higher  civilisation  and  a  more 
powerful  political  system.  Unfortunately,  these  material 
advantages  are  more  prominent  than  any  thought  of 
spiritual  advantage  in  the  eyes  of  most  of  our  hearers. 
We  have  to  beware,  therefore,  lest  we  should  too  hastily 
receive  those  who  have  neither  any  real  desire  for  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  nor  any  spiritual  hungering  and 
thirsting  after  righteousness.  Whatever  may  be  said  on 
theoretical  grounds,  it  seems  to  be  the  dictate  of  ex- 
pediency, and  also  of  a  wider  and  deeper  consideration  of 
New  Testament  language,  that  we  should  exercise  extreme 
care  in  the  selection  of  the  human  material  out  of  which 
we  are  to  make  the  foundations  of  a  Christian  Church  in  a 
heathen  country.  It  would  be  easy  to  add  rapidly  to  the 
numbers  of  our  converts,  but  a  rapid  growth  in  numbers 
would  not  necessarily  mean  a  growth  in  real  strength. 
Careful  selection  of  those  admitted  to  the  Church,  especially 
at  the  outset,  with  patient  and  careful  teaching  and 
training  after  their  admission,  seems  to  be  the  best 
guarantee  for  the  healthy  growth  and  permanence  of  the 
native  Church. 

With  regard  to  the  question  of  the  apostolic  practice  in 
the  administration  of  baptism,  another  remark  may  be 
made.     Does  the  New  Testament  represent  the  apostles 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      203 

as  men  who  were  infallible  in  their  administration  of  the 
Church  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  while  they  were  men 
divinely  taught  they  were  at  the  same  time  subject  to  like 
passions  with  ourselves,  and  had  to  apply  the  divine 
teaching  given  them  under  many  of  the  ordinary  limi- 
tations of  human  life  ?  It  has  been  too  often  assumed 
that  under  the  apostles  we  find  the  Church  in  a  state  of 
ideal  purity  and  perfection  ;  but  is  it  not  evident  that  the 
New  Testament,  with  the  same  perfect  frankness  which 
makes  parts  of  the  Old  a  stumbling-block  to  modern 
readers,  sets  before  us  the  apostolic  administration,  its 
growths,  and  their  results,  as  subject  to  scrutiny  in  the 
light  of  the  Lord's  rule  :  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them  ?  " 

For  example,  the  community  of  goods  which  was 
established  for  a  short  time  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem, 
is  classed  by  general  consent  among  experiments  that 
have  failed.  The  Church  in  Corinth  was  the  scene  of 
gross  disorders,  not  only  in  individual  cases,  but  in  its 
corporate  life  ;  disorders  so  gross  that  no  modern  mission 
which  became  the  scene  of  such  things  could  hope  for 
toleration  or  pardon  from  its  supporters.  Even  though 
the  personal  infallibility  of  the  apostles  in  acts  of  adminis- 
tration had  been  guaranteed,  it  is  evident  that  their 
control  reached  the  numerous  scattered  Churches  only 
very  imperfectly.  Their  visits  to  the  Churches  were  few 
and  uncertain,  and  the  whole  of  the  Epistles  represent  the 
efforts  which  they  made  to  supplement  the  lack  of  their 
continued  personal  rule. 

We  must  therefore  regard  the  early  Church  history 
with  a  watchful  eye,  not  seeking  to  transfer  all  its  features 
to  the  Church  of  our  own  time.  Some  of  its  chapters 
are  for  our  warning  rather  than  for  our  imitation,  and  all 
are  to  be  read  in  the  light  of  experience. 

When  the  apostle  Paul  tells  us  that  many  walk  who 
are  enemies   to   the   Cross   of  Christ,   he    must   refer   to 


204      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

persons  who  were  recognised  as  members  of  the  Christian 
Church.  But  he  is  plainly  speaking  of  persons  who 
should  never  have  been  baptised  at  all,  and  it  is  evident 
that  even  in  apostolic  days  the  system  of  admission, 
whatever  it  was,  was  not  wholly  successful.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  we  find  that  not  long  afterwards 
a  very  cautious  method  was  pursued.  In  the  "  Teaching 
of  the  Twelve "  we  read  :  "  Having  first  communicated 
these  instructions,  baptise  into  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  instructions 
referred  to  consist  of  the  contents  of  the  early  part  of  the 
book,  and  the  communicating  of  these  instructions  implies 
a  considerable  preparatory  training.  In  the  "  Apostolic 
Constitutions,"  ^  dating  from  the  early  Christian  centuries, 
still  more  elaborate  and  cautious  instructions  are  given. 
Thus  we  read  :  "  Those  that  first  come  to  the  mystery  of 
godliness,  let  them  be  brought  to  the  bishop  or  to  the 
presbyters  by  the  deacons,  and  let  them  be  examined  as  to 
the  causes  wherefore  they  come  to  the  Word  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  let  those  that  bring  them  inquire  exactly  about  their 
character  and  give  them  their  testimony.  ...  If  a  maker 
of  idols  come,  let  him  either  leave  off  his  employment,  or 
let  him  be  rejected.  If  one  belonging  to  the  theatre 
come,  whether  it  be  man  or  woman,  or  charioteer,  or 
dueller,  or  racer,  or  player  of  prizes,  or  Olympic  gamester, 
or  one  that  plays  on  the  pipe,  on  the  lute,  or  on  the  harp 
at  these  games,  or  a  dancing  master,  or  a  huckster,  either 
let  them  leave  off  their  employments,  or  let  them  be 
rejected.  .  .  .  He  that  is  guilty  of  sins  not  to  be  named, 
a  magician,  an  enchanter,  an  astrologer,  a  diviner, 
a  user  of  magic  verses,  a  juggler,  a  mountebank,  one 
that  makes  amulets,  a  charmer,  a  soothsayer,  a  fortune- 
teller, an  observer  of  palmistry,  he  that  when  he  meets 
you  observes  defects  of  the  eyes  or  feet  of  the 
birds  or  cats,  or  noises,  or  symbolical  sounds  ;  let  these 

^  Book  viii.  chap.  32  ;  see  also  Book  vii.  chap.  39. 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      205 

be  proved  for  some  time,  for  this  sort  of  wickedness  is  hard 
to  be  washed  away  ;  and  if  they  leave  off  those  practices 
let  them  be  received  ;  but  if  they  will  not  agree  to  that 
let  them  be  rejected.  .  .  .  Let  him  that  follows  the 
Gentile  customs  or  Jewish  fables  either  reform,  or  let  him 
be  rejected.  If  any  one  follows  the  sports  of  the  theatre, 
their  huntings  or  horse  races  or  combats,  either  let  him 
leave  them  off,  or  let  him  be  rejected.  Let  him  who  is  to 
be  a  catechumen  be  a  catechumen  for  three  years  ;  but  if 
anyone  be  diligent  and  has  a  good  will  to  his  business, 
let  him  be  admitted,  for  it  is  not  length  of  time  but  the 
course  of  life  that  is  judged."  These  words  describe  very 
nearly  the  course  that  is  pursued  in  our  missions  in  south 
China,  except  that  the  period  of  three  years  is  longer  than 
the  period  of  probation  to  which  most  of  our  applicants 
for  baptism  are  subjected.  This  practice  of  great  care 
in  the  selection  of  candidates  for  baptism  is  rather  con- 
firmed than  otherwise  by  the  example  of  the  apostle 
Paul  himself  It  is  often  said  that  the  apostolic  practice 
was  that  of  a  very  free  admission  to  baptism  of  nearly  all 
those  who  applied  for  it ;  but  the  apostle  Paul,  so  far 
from  baptising  freely  all  applicants,  tells  us  plainly  that 
he  himself  administered  baptism  in  very  few  cases  indeed. 
This  was  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  intensity  with  which 
he  gave  himself  to  matters  to  him  of  infinitely  greater 
moment  than  the  administration  of  sacraments,  but  it  was 
no  doubt  also  due  in  part  to  his  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  his  constant  journeyings  over  wide  fields  of  labour 
did  not  allow  him  those  opportunities  for  close  personal 
acquaintanceship,  or  for  prolonged  sympathetic  teaching, 
which  are  required  for  the  safe  and  useful  administration 
of  baptism  as  a  rite  by  which  new  converts  are  admitted 
into  the  Church. 

Those  who  advocate  the  free  reception,  at  an  early 
stage,  and  with  little  restriction,  of  applicants  for  baptism, 
sometimes  put  their  argument  in  this  form.     They  admit 


2o6      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

that  many  of  the  persons  thus  baptised  are  likely  after- 
wards to  fall  away  ;  but  they  contend  that  the  numbers  of 
those  who  remain  faithful  after  being  gathered  in  under 
this  system  are  larger  than  those  gathered  in  by  the  other. 
Suppose,  they  say,  five  thousand  persons  are  baptised 
within  a  brief  period,  and  that  of  these  one,  or  even  two, 
thousand  should  afterwards  fall  away,  still  you  have 
gathered  the  harvest  of  three  thousand  satisfactory 
converts,  while  on  the  plan  of  cautious  selection  you  might 
have  received  not  more  than  a  few  hundreds.  There  is 
one  obvious  weakness  in  this  line  of  argument ;  it  assumes 
that  you  have  gained  a  nett  result  of  three  thousand 
satisfactory  converts,  with  no  countervailing  disadvantage. 
But  it  is  forgotten  that  the  one  or  two  thousand  who  fall 
away  are  not  merely  a  loss  by  deduction  of  their  numbers 
from  the  nett  result  ;  they  continue  to  move  about  in 
heathen  society,  living  un-Christian  lives,  and  yet  are  known 
by  everyone  to  have  been  accepted  as  members  of  the 
Christian  Church.  They  bring  discredit  upon  the  Christian 
name  and  repel  many  who,  but  for  their  disastrous 
example,  might  have  become  sincere  and  earnest  converts. 
The  Church  works  on  the  mass  of  heathen  society  by  its 
example  ;  but  the  force  of  its  example  must  be  enormously 
lessened  where  there  are  large  numbers  of  persons  who 
are  known  to  have  entered  its  membership  and  yet  do  not 
display  in  their  lives  a  Christian  spirit  and  character. 

As  in  the  world  of  nature  weeds  and  tropic  jungle  grow 
apace,  while  great  forest  trees  build  themselves  up  by  slow 
and  imperceptible  increase,  so  the  new  Church,  which  is 
re-creating  by  its  life  the  elements  around  it,  must  take 
time  for  their  assimilation.  At  no  stage  can  work  so  far- 
reaching  be  rushed  to  a  hasty  end.  On  the  contrary, 
time  continually  brings  to  light  new  needs,  and  fresh 
methods  must  be  devised  to  meet  them.  After  making 
provision  for  Christian  worship  and  elementary  instruction, 
and  laying  the  foundations  of  a  Church  organisation,  much 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      207 

remains  to  be  done  in  order  to  carry  on  from  stage  to 
stage  the  due  culture  of  the  Christian  life  that  has  been 
begun  in  an  unkindly  environment. 

Foremost  among  the  means  to  be  used  for  this  purpose 
may  be  mentioned  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures. 
From  the  beginning  of  mission  work  in  China  much 
labour  has  been  expended  in  this  department,  and  the 
work  is  not  yet  nearly  at  an  end.  Many  complete 
versions  of  the  New  Testament,  and  several  of  the  whole 
Bible,  have  been  made  in  different  forms  of  the  Chinese 
language.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  first  of  these 
versions  known  to  us  was  made,  though  not  printed,  by 
some  unknown  Catholic  missionary  at  least  as  early  as  the 
seventeenth  century.  A  copy  of  his  work,  made  in  Canton, 
was  presented  by  a  British  merchant  to  Sir  Hans  Sloane, 
and  afterwards  deposited  in  the  British  Museum.  There 
it  attracted  the  attention  of  Robert  Morrison  on  his 
appointment  in  1807  ^s  the  first  Protestant  missionary  to 
China.  He  began  making  a  copy  of  it  with  his  own 
hand,  and  afterwards  procured  the  assistance  of  a  China- 
man whom  he  found  in  London.  This  transcript  he 
carried  with  him  to  Canton,  and  used  as  the  basis  of  his 
work  in  beginning  to  translate  the  New  Testament.  He 
completed  a  version,  first  of  the  New  Testament,  and 
afterwards  of  the  Old,  which  is  a  monument  of  persevering 
labour.  It  served  a  useful  purpose  in  the  early  days  of 
mission  work  in  China ;  but  on  account  of  the  dis- 
advantages under  which  the  work  was  executed,  it  was 
impossible  that  it  should  remain  in  permanent  use,  and  it 
is  now  entirely  laid  aside  ;  but  it  was  the  first  of  a  series 
of  efforts  which  have  given  us  several  Chinese  versions  of 
no  little  excellence.  The  relations  of  these  will  be  best 
understood  by  reference  to  a  diagram  in  which  their  dates 
and  their  dependence  upon  each  other  are  set  forth  (see 
p.  208). 


2o8       THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 


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ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      209 

The  nature  of  any  version  of  the  Scriptures  will  be 
largely  determined  by  the  class  of  readers  for  whom  it  is 
intended.  A  translation  may  be  for  either  of  two 
purposes.  It  may  be  intended  either  (i)  to  give  a 
substantially  faithful  presentation  of  the  thoughts  of 
Scripture  to  non-Christian  readers,  either  with  a  direct 
view  to  their  enlightenment  and  conversion,  or  for  general 
apologetic  purposes  ;  or  (2)  to  supply  Christian  readers 
with  as  faithful  a  text  as  can  possibly  be  given,  to  form 
the  basis  of  a  minute  and  loving  study  of  the  niceties  of 
expression  and  the  minutiae  of  distinctively  Christian 
thought.  Speaking  broadly,  one  might  say  that  the 
former  object  was  the  one  which  the  earlier  translators 
had  in  view.  There  was  then  no  Christian  Church  in 
China,  and  the  thought  always  present  to  a  translator's 
mind  was,  necessarily  and  rightly,  how  to  make  the  great 
facts  of  Christianity  and  the  broad  outlines  of  Christian 
thought  most  acceptable  to  a  non-Christian  reader.  To 
disarm  prejudice  and  receive  a  favourable  hearing  it  was 
necessary  to  cultivate  refinement  of  style,  and  the 
peculiarities  of  Christian  teaching  were  sometimes  sacri- 
ficed to  the  requirements  of  elegant  style  or  of  familiar 
idiom.  It  is  to  its  happy  meeting  of  these  requirements 
that  what  is  called  the  "  Delegates'  Version  "  owes  its  wide 
popularity  among  Chinese  missions.  Its  style,  from  the 
Chinese  point  of  view,  is  faultless  ;  its  narrative  portions 
are  clear  and  pleasant  to  read  ;  the  Psalms  and  Prophecies 
are  appropriately  rendered,  though  not  accurately  trans- 
lated, in  a  measured  and  elegant  rhythm ;  while  the 
profounder  discussions  of  the  apostles  are  rendered  with  a 
general  faithfulness,  which  retains  a  Chinese  cast  of  expres- 
sion, and  avoids  embarrassing  a  non-instructed  reader  with 
the  subtler  profundities  of  Christian  theology  and  ethics. 
These  are  high  merits,  and  they  have  rendered  this  version 
a  valuable  instrument  for  the  evangelisation  of  China. 

But  for  the  second  purpose  of  a  translation  these  high 

O 


210      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

excellences  assume  a  different  aspect,  and  some  of  them 
become  positive  defects.  On  the  one  hand,  the  style  of 
this  version,  though  admirable  for  good  scholars,  is  too 
high  for  even  the  more  educated  part  of  the  membership 
of  the  Church  ;  on  the  other,  its  renderings,  though  faithful 
to  the  main  lines  of  Christian  teaching,  are  not  so 
minutely  exact  as  to  lend  themselves  to  detailed  exe- 
getical  and  expository  treatment  in  the  hands  of 
Christian  students  and  preachers. 

The  language  problem  in  China  is  of  such  a  complex 
kind  that  a  version  of  the  Scriptures  for  general  use  in 
all  parts  of  the  Empire  must  be  written  in  the  Book  or 
Classical  language,  expressed  in  the  native  character.  It 
is  then  quite  suitable  for  use  in  every  part  of  the  country, 
and  forms  a  common  standard  of  appeal  for  the  whole 
Chinese  Church  ;  but  the  wide  range  of  its  use  is  secured 
at  a  heavy  cost.  The  language  in  which  it  is  embodied 
is  a  literary  vehicle  acquired  only  by  scholars,  and  far 
removed  from  the  mother-tongue  of  the  people.  Wher- 
ever it  is  read  in  public  worship  it  must  be  submitted  to  a 
further  process  of  translation.  If  read  aloud  as  it  stands 
on  the  printed  page,  it  is  not  understood  by  the  hearers. 
The  reader,  whose  eye  follows  the  printed  text,  must  read 
from  it  a  translation,  usually  extemporary,  into  the  local 
vernacular  of  the  people  whom  he  is  addressing.  Thus 
the  Bible  in  the  classical  form  given  it  by  scholars  who 
have  spent  long  toil  on  biblical  translation,  does  not  in 
that  form  reach  the  bulk  of  our  Church  members.  Their 
Bible  is  the  ever  varying,  often  patched  and  bungled, 
rendering  which  is  produced,  anew  and  extempore,  at 
every  service  or  meeting  which  they  attend.  At  its  best 
it  lacks  faithfulness,  force  and  permanence  ;  at  its  worst 
it  becomes  a  bungled  patchwork,  in  which  the  outlines  of 
the  meaning  can  hardly  be  discerned,  and  where  life  and 
spirit  are  nearly  lost.  The  Bible  in  the  book  language 
is  read  by  a  few  of  the  Chinese   Christians,  and  is  taught 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     211 

in  all  Christian  schools  in  southern  China.  It  is  invalu- 
able as  a  basis  for  teaching,  but  the  book  language  is  not 
in  any  part  of  China  the  language  of  the  people,  and  the 
Bible  in  this  form  can  never  be  the  people's  Bible. 

There  is  another  large  department  of  Scripture  trans- 
lation which  was  undertaken  at  a  later  stage.  This  is 
the  rendering  of  the  Bible  into  the  local  vernaculars  of 
different  parts  of  the  Empire.  These  vernaculars  are  not 
usually  written  in  any  form,  though  they  are  the  native 
tongues  of  all  classes  of  the  people,  but  the  most  widely 
extended  of  them,  the  so-called  Mandarin  dialect,  can  be 
written  in  Chinese  characters,  and  a  large  native  literature 
exists  in  this  form.  There  is  thus  a  written  vernacular 
in  northern  and  western  China,  where  the  Mandarin 
dialect  is  the  spoken  language  of  all  classes  of  the  people. 
A  version  of  the  Bible  was  accordingly  made  into  this 
form  of  the  Chinese  language  as  early  as  the  year  i860, 
and  is  used,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  in 
classical  style,  over  all  the  north  and  west  of  China.  The 
vernaculars  of  Canton  and  Foochow  have  also  been 
written  by  the  Chinese  in  the  native  character,  with 
certain  modifications  to  adapt  it  to  this  purpose,  and  in 
these  two  vernaculars  also  there  exist  complete  versions 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  There  are  also  partial 
versions  in  some  other  of  the  local  vernaculars,  but,  for 
reasons  into  which  it  is  impossible  to  enter  here,  the 
native  character  is  not  well  adapted  for  representing  the 
spoken  vernaculars,  and  many  efforts  have  been  made  to 
find  a  more  suitable  method  of  writing  them.  Of  these  by 
far  the  most  successful  and  the  most  widely  used  has  been 
the  Roman  letter  ;  that  is  to  say,  our  own  alphabet  is 
applied  on  a  strictly  phonetic  system  to  the  representa- 
tion of  the  sounds  of  spoken  Chinese.  The  whole  Bible 
has  been  translated  into  the  vernacular  of  Amoy  and 
Formosa  in  this  form,  and  we  have  for  many  years 
been    carrying    out   by    degrees    a    translation    into    the 


212      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

vernacular  of  Swatow.  This  form  is  usually  spoken 
of  as  "  Romanised  vernacular,"  and  its  use  is  speedily- 
growing,  with  the  greatest  possible  advantage  to  the 
Christian  communities,  within  which  its  use  has  been 
hitherto  confined.  Hainan,  Canton,  Swatow,  the  Hak-ka 
country,  Amoy,  Formosa,  Foochow,  Ningpo,  Taichow, 
Shanghai,  and  the  wide  region  of  the  Mandarin  verna- 
cular, all  possess  versions,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the 
Scriptures  in  their  several  vernaculars. 

For  two  reasons  the  native  book  language  presents 
extreme  difficulty,  which  unfits  it  for  universal  popular 
use.  In  the  first  place,  a  large  number  of  characters, 
their  forms,  sounds,  meanings  and  usage,  have  to  be 
acquired,  and  this  is  an  enormously  heavy  tax  upon  the 
time  and  patience  of  ordinary  people.  And  after  the 
characters  have  become  individually  familiar  there  remains 
the  still  more  difficult  task  of  translating  from  the  book 
language  into  the  local  vernacular.  These  reasons 
account  for  the  smallness  of  the  number  of  readers  in 
China,  which  may  be  roughly  estimated  at  not  more  than 
10  per  cent,  of  the  men,  and  much  less  than  i  per  cent, 
of  the  women.  Many  years  of  hard  toil  give  to  the 
ordinary  Chinese  student  but  little  command  of  the  book 
language,  and  little  or  no  power  of  intelligent  reading  ; 
but  the  use  of  the  Romanised  vernacular  opens  to  all  our 
people  an  easy  channel  for  intelligent  self-education. 
Instead  of  studying  from  two  to  four  thousand  complicated 
characters,  representing  what  is  even  to  them  an  unknown 
tongue,  they  have  only  to  learn  about  twenty  simple 
letters,  and  to  practise  their  phonetic  use  in  representing 
the  sounds  of  their  own  mother-tongue  as  used  in  daily 
speech.  So  great  is  the  simplification  thus  gained  that 
men  and  women  of  sixty  years  of  age  have  learned  to 
read  in  this  system  without  difficulty,  and  we  estimate 
three  months  as  a  fair  average  time  in  which  proficiency 
may  be  attained,  even  by  the  uneducated.     We  are  setting 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     213 

before  the  native  Church  as  its  aim  that  every  member  of 
it,  men,  women,  and  children,  unless  prevented  by  physical 
disability,  should  be  able  to  read  the  Word  of  God  for 
themselves.  With  the  use  of  the  Chinese  book  language 
this  ideal  will  be  impossible  of  attainment,  but  with  the 
use  of  the  Romanised  vernacular  it  will  not  only  be 
possible  but  easy  to  reach  it. 

The  reading  and  writing  of  the  vernacular  in  Roman 
letter  is  taught  in  all  our  schools  along  with  the  native 
written  character  or  book  language.  Of  those  who  can 
read  the  book  language  in  Chinese  characters,  not  one  in 
twenty  can  write  it  with  any  facility  or  success.  For  this 
reason  the  Romanised  vernacular  is  of  great  value  in 
enabling  those  who  learn  it  to  express  their  own  ideas  in 
writing  letters  or  essays  or  other  compositions.  Where  it 
has  been  introduced,  a  large  amount  of  correspondence  is 
carried  on  among  the  Christians,  and  also  between  the 
native  Christians  and  the  missionaries.  A  signal  advan- 
tage of  this  method  is  that  those  who  use  it  express  them- 
selves naturally,  writing  what  they  would  say  :  whereas 
those  who  use  the  book  language  write  not  so  much  what 
they  wish  to  say  as  what  they  must  say  in  the  few  fixed 
phrases  known  to  them.  Even  those  who  write  it  well 
are  greatly  controlled,  not  only  in  expression  but  even  in 
their  thinking,  by  the  stereotyped  phrases  of  the  highly 
artificial  literary  vehicle  which  they  employ. 

There  is  great  hope  for  the  growth  of  the  native 
Church  in  intelligence  and  Christian  culture  in  the  freedom 
secured  by  the  use  of  this  simple  and  natural  application 
of  their  mother-tongue. 

Of  course  it  is  not  enough  to  translate  the  Scriptures 
and  other  books  into  the  book  language  and  the  Romanised 
vernaculars.  After  that  has  been  done  every  effort  must 
be  made  to  bring  this  Christian  literature  into  general  use 
among  the  Christian  people.  Besides  the  elementary  and 
higher  schools  for  the  children  of  the  Church,  and  Sabbath 


2  14      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

schools  for  old  and  young,  in  which  the  teaching  of  read- 
ing has  an  important  place,  two  special  expedients  may- 
be noted  here. 

Want  of  leisure  is  of  course  a  principal  difficulty  for 
many  of  our  people.  The  men  are  hard  at  work  in  their 
fields,  or  shops,  or  fishing  boats,  all  day,  and  sometimes 
by  night  as  well.  The  women  are  usually  heavily  bur- 
dened with  household  duties,  which  often  include  spinning 
and  weaving  for  family  use  or  for  sale.  In  their  scanty 
leisure  they  are  too  tired  for  active  mental  effort ;  and 
without  guidance  and  without  the  habit  of  study,  they 
can  make  but  little  use  of  the  few  opportunities  for  self- 
improvement  that  remain  to  them.  We  therefore  have 
classes  for  adults  which  meet  annually  for  a  few  weeks' 
study  at  the  mission  centre. 

The  men's  class  is  held  in  the  college  in  autumn,  after 
the  summer  harvest  is  gathered  in,  when  the  men  are 
comparatively  at  leisure.  Those  who  wish  to  attend  send 
in  their  names,  and  a  list  is  made  up  of  those  who  are  to 
be  admitted.  Food  and  lodging  is  provided  for  them  in 
the  college,  which  is  vacant  at  that  season,  the  regular 
students  being  out  on  holiday.  There  are  usually  more 
applicants  than  we  can  receive,  and  a  selection  is  made  of 
those  most  likely  to  profit  by  the  opportunity.  They 
remain  with  us  for  six  weeks,  and  for  this  reason  the 
school  has  been  conveniently  named  in  Chinese  fashion 
the  "  Forty  Days  School."  It  is  taught  by  the  missionaries, 
with  or  without  native  help.  The  main  purpose  of  it  is 
to  teach  all  who  attend  to  read  in   Romanised  vernacular. 

They  also  study  some  portion  of  Scripture,  usually  a 
Gospel,  with  some  systematic  view  of  Christian  truth  from 
a  simple  catechism,  and  some  elementary  geography. 
Those  who  profit  most  are  encouraged  to  come  back  for 
a  second  season,  and  in  the  case  of  those  who  do  so  the 
results  are  very  marked.  Even  in  one  season  the  progress 
made  is  very  satisfactory. 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH      215 

A  somewhat  similar  arrangement  is  made  for  the  older 
women  of  the  Church.  A  class  for  them  is  held  in 
spring,  and  continues  for  two  or  three  months.  It  is 
taught  by  the  ladies  of  the  mission,  and  the  subjects 
studied  are  nearly  the  same  as  in  the  men's  class.  If  any 
members  of  this  class  make  good  progress,  and  give 
promise  of  special  fitness  for  employment  in  Church  work, 
they  are  allowed  to  return  home  that  they  may  approve 
themselves  by  their  life  and  character  among  their  own 
people.  Further  inquiry  is  afterwards  made,  and  those 
whom  we  propose  to  employ  are  invited  to  return  for 
further  study.  In  the  case  of  men,  we  ask  them  to 
enter  the  college  and  join  a  regular  class  of  students, 
for  whom  subjects  of  study  are  fixed  from  time  to  time 
according  to  their  ability  and  progress.  In  the  case  of 
women,  special  classes  are  formed  from  time  to  time,  with 
a  direct  view  to  fitting  those  who  attend  them  for  employ- 
ment as  Bible-women,  or  evangelists,  among  the  women 
of  the  Church  at  the  out-stations,  and  their  non-Christian 
neighbours. 

A  large  department  of  work  for  the  culture  of  the 
Christian  life  consists  in  the  development,  as  the  growth 
of  the  Church  requires  it,  of  a  system  of  education  in 
elementary,  middle  or  high,  and  theological  schools.  In 
these  provision  is  made  both  for  "  the  Godly  upbringing  of 
the  young,"  and  for  the  training  of  a  native  ministry. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  mission  there  were  a  few  local 
schools  where  the  children  of  Christian  and  non-Christian 
parents  received  an  elementary  education.  For  many 
years  it  was  hardly  possible  to  make  such  schools  really 
successful.  Sometimes  it  was  impossible  to  find  a  Chris- 
tian teacher,  and  the  missionaries  felt  themselves  obliged, 
with  much  reluctance,  to  employ  men  who  were  not  even 
professing  Christians.  Later  experience  has  fully  justified 
this  reluctance,  and  taught  us  that  it  is  better  to  have  no 
school  than  to  have  one  taught  by  a  native  teacher  who 


2i6      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION    WORK 

is  not  a  Christian.  The  popular  regard  for  learning,  real 
or  nominal,  leads  to  undue  respect  being  shown  to  any- 
one who  has  the  name  of  teacher,  irrespective  of  his  real 
character  and  attainments.  Native  preachers  in  charge 
of  congregations  were  often,  especially  in  the  earlier  years, 
men  of  little  culture  and  education.  Hence  it  frequently 
happened  that  the  influence  of  the  preacher  was  altogether 
outweighed  by  that  of  the  non-Christian  teacher  who  was, 
theoretically,  under  his  direction. 

It  was  ultimately  found,  therefore,  that  it  was  better  to 
give  up  altogether  the  practice  of  employing  as  teachers 
men  who  were  not  Christians.  This,  however,  raised 
a  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  providing  education 
for  the  Christian  children.  We  regarded  the  preachers 
mainly  as  evangelists,  whose  duty  it  was  to  itinerate  as 
widely  as  possible  in  the  district  surrounding  their  stations. 
It  was  hardly  consistent  with  this  duty  that  they  should 
give  much  time  to  teaching  in  day  schools.  Besides,  as  I 
have  said,  while  their  character  made  them  useful  preachers 
to  adults,  their  education  was  often  not  sufficient  to  make 
them  successful  teachers.  To  meet  these  difficulties  we 
opened,  in  the  year  1876,  a  boarding  school  at  the  mis- 
sion centre  in  Swatow.  We  called  it  from  the  first  the 
"  middle  school,"  but  this  more  on  account  of  the 
position  which  we  meant  it  to  occupy  in  the  future 
than  on  account  of  the  work  done  in  it  at  the  outset. 
Into  this  school  we  received  about  thirty  boys  drawn  from 
the  Christian  congregations  throughout  the  country,  and 
gave  them  four  years'  education  under  a  Christian  teacher 
who  was  under  our  own  direct  supervision.  Here,  too, 
the  experiment  was  made  of  employing  a  non-Christian 
teacher  to  assist  in  teaching  the  reading  of  native  books 
and  the  writing  of  the  native  character  ;  but  here,  too, 
experience  soon  showed  the  evil  of  employing  a  non- 
Christian  teacher  in  a  Christian  school,  even  with  the 
closest    supervision.       His    presence    and    influence    were 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     217 

always  felt  to  be  positively  hostile  to  the  real  aims  of  the 
school,  and  after  a  year's  experiment  we  found  it  best  to 
dispense  with  assistance  of  this  kind.  For  some  years 
the  so-called  "  middle  school "  was  compelled  to  give  its 
pupils  elementary  instruction,  but  we  gradually  raised  the 
standard  of  education,  and  as  years  went  on  aimed  at 
having  the  elementary  work  done  in  congregational 
schools.  Now  that  this  school  has  been  at  work  for 
twenty-three  years  the  difficulty  has  been  largely  over- 
come. Many  of  our  out-stations  have  now  their  own 
elementary  schools  under  the  care  of  a  Christian  teacher. 
In  these  schools  boys  receive  from  four  to  six  years' 
elementary  instruction.  In  the  year  1881  a  qualified 
teacher  was  sent  out  from  home  as  a  missionary  specially 
instructed  to  give  his  whole  time  to  educational  work. 
Under  his  care  much  progress  has  been  made,  both  in  the 
elementary  schools  and  in  the  middle  school.  Most  of 
his  own  work  is  done  in  the  latter,  but  he  also  regulates 
the  teaching  in  the  elementary  schools,  and  examines 
all  the  pupils  towards  the  end  of  each  year.  Those  who 
stand  well  in  the  examination  for  the  fourth  year  and 
upwards  in  the  elementary  schools  may,  when  they  have 
reached  the  full  age  of  fifteen  years,  become  candidates  for 
admission  to  the  middle  school.  For  some  years  the 
number  of  candidates  was  not  large,  and  we  were  obliged 
to  sanction  for  the  time  a  somewhat  lower  standard  of 
qualification,  but  the  standard  has  been  gradually  raised, 
and  can  now  be  strictly  enforced.  The  middle  school 
receives  year  by  year  a  number  of  boys  of  good  character 
who  have  had  a  thorough  and  carefully  regulated  elemen- 
tary school  course.  They  spend  four  years  in  the  middle 
school,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  are  qualified  for 
admission  to  the  hospital  as  medical  students,  or  to  the 
college  for  training,  with  a  view  to  becoming  preachers  and 
teachers. 

In  the  elementary  schools  the  children  of  non-Christian 


2i8      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

parents  are  admitted  if  they  are  willing  to  conform  to  the 
course  laid  down,  but  the  irregularity  of  their  attendance 
makes  their  admission  very  unsatisfactory.  To  the 
middle  school  only  the  children  of  Christian  parents 
or  those  who  are  under  Christian  guardianship  are  ad- 
mitted. It  is  not  required  of  these  boys  that  they  should 
have  already  made  a  personal  profession  of  Christian  faith, 
though  usually  a  number  of  them  have  already  done  so. 
Many  of  them,  though  not  all,  have  been  baptised  in 
infancy  as  the  children  of  Christian  parents,  and  most  of 
those  who  pass  through  the  middle  school  curriculum  are 
received  into  the  Church  on  their  own  profession  before 
they  leave  the  school. 

The  students  received  into  the  college  consist  of  two 
classes.  Some  are  men  who  became  Christians  after  they 
were  grown  up,  and  have  not  had  the  advantage  of  an 
early  Christian  education.  Most  of  these  have  been 
farmers,  some  boatmen  or  tradesmen,  and  are  received 
into  the  college  on  good  evidence  being  shown  that  they 
are  men  of  real  Christian  character,  who  have  some  desire 
and  capacity  to  serve  the  Church  in  evangelistic  work. 
For  these  men  the  course  of  study  is  regulated  from  time 
to  time,  according  to  their  abilities  and  progress,  and  for 
them  we  have  not  been  able  to  draw  up  a  fixed  curriculum. 
The  other  class  of  students  is  drawn  generally  from  the 
middle  school,  and  consists  of  those  who  have  received  a 
Christian  education  from  their  childhood,  and  are  in  every 
way  better  qualified  than  the  others  for  continuous  higher 
study.  They  usually  enter  college  at  a  considerably 
earlier  age  than  the  others,  and  we  often  send  them  out 
in  the  middle  of  their  college  course  to  teach  for  another 
year  that  they  may  gain  experience,  and  not  reach 
the  end  of  their  curriculum  at  too  early  an  age.  The 
regular  course  for  these  more  advanced  students  occupies 
four  years,  during  which  time  they  read  through  the 
Chinese   text   of  the   whole   Bible,   practising  translation 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     219 

from  the  literary  language  into  the  vernacular,  and  making 
a  more  special  study  of  selected  books  both  from  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New.  They  also  study  Church  his- 
tory, the  elements  of  systematic  theology,  keep  up  their 
knowledge  of  arithmetic,  geography  and  history,  receive 
some  little  instruction  in  physical  science,  and  practise 
composition  and  the  preparation  of  sermons.  All  parts 
of  their  educational  course  are  conducted  solely  in  Chinese. 
We  have  not  thought  it  desirable,  nor  have  our  numbers 
rendered  it  possible,  to  give  any  instruction  in  English, 
and  the  time  does  not  seem  to  have  yet  arrived  for  their 
study  of  Hebrew  and  Greek.  The  students  are  for  the 
most  part  poor  men,  sometimes  with  parents  more  or  less 
dependent  upon  them,  and  are  not  able  to  defray  the  cost 
of  their  own  education.  Bare  maintenance  is  therefore 
given  them  by  the  mission  during  their  college  course.  It 
amounts,  in  the  case  of  an  unmarried  student,  to  three 
dollars  {i.e.  Mexican  or  silver  dollars)  per  month,  which  at 
present  rates  of  exchange  is  equivalent  in  money  to  about 
six  shillings,  though  it  represents  more  in  purchasing 
power  for  native  articles  of  food. 

At  the  end  of  their  college  course  these  students  are 

/sent  out,  at  first  on  probation,  as  teachers  or  preachers  at 

//out-stations,  and  begin  to  take  their  part  in  the  regular 

/ 1  work  of  the  Church.      In  order  to  maintain  the  habit  of 

'  I  study,  we   prescribe   to  them    portions  of  Scripture  and 

i   other  books  for  private  reading,  calling  them  in  to  spend 

\   a  few  days  with  us  at  the  mission  centre  twice  a  year  for 

\   examination   and   instruction  on   the  subjects  prescribed, 

\  and  for  practical  conference  in  regard  to  their  work. 

This  educational  system,  including  elementary,  middle, 
and  theological  schools,  has  gradually  been  enlarged  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  growing  Church.  In  later  years, 
through  the  efforts  of  the  ladies  of  the  mission,  elemen- 
tary schools  for  young  girls  have  been  opened  at  many  of 
our  stations.     They  are  always  taught  by  female  teachers, 


2  20      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

most  of  whom  have  been  educated  in  the  Girls'  Boarding 
School  at  Swatow,  which  corresponds  to  the  Middle 
School  for  boys. 

The  growth  of  the  Church  and  the  progress  of  the 
Christian  life  led  in  time  to  a  further  stage  of  Church 
organisation.  Separate  churches  had  been  planted  one 
by  one,  but  as  they  multiplied  it  became  necessary  to 
secure  by  suitable  means  their  unity  and  harmonious 
development. 

This  was  done  by  the  formation  of  a  native  presbytery. 
It  was  not  formed  to  reproduce  in  China  an  ecclesiastical 
ideal,  but  to  meet  in  the  simplest  manner  the  actual  and 
pressing  needs  of  the  situation  at  which  the  work  had 
arrived. 

For  many  years  the  preachers  had  carried  on  their 
work  under  the  direction  of  the  missionaries,  and  received 
their  support  from  mission  funds.  About  the  year  1880 
some  of  our  congregations  had  reached  the  stage  of  desir- 
ing to  have  a  native  minister  ordained  amongst  them. 
From  the  beginning  it  has  been  made  a  condition  of  the 
ordination  of  native  ministers  that  they  should  be  wholly 
supported  by  their  own  people.  To  make  it  easier  for 
congregations  to  reach  this  stage  we  have  consented  in 
some  cases  to  the  grouping  together  of  two  or  three  con- 
gregations, no  one  of  which  was  strong  enough  to  support 
its  own  minister,  and  which  were  near  enough  to  each 
other  to  make  it  possible  for  one  man  to  superintend  all. 
This  stage  was  reached  about  1880,  in  a  group  of  con- 
gregations in  the  north-east  of  our  field,  the  principal  of 
which  was  lam-tsau,  which  you  may  remember  as  the 
village  in  which  Mr  Lechler,  the  German  missionary, 
spent  some  of  the  laborious  years  of  his  early  work  in 
Tie-chiu. 

We  accordingly  invited  all  the  elders  from  the  different 
congregations  to  meet  together  with  ourselves  for  the  for- 
mation of  a  presbytery.     We  met  in  Swatow  on  the  8th 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     221 

June  1 88 1.  There  were  present  five  ordained  missionaries 
from  the  Hok-lo  and  Hak-ka  sections  of  the  Swatow 
mission  field,  with  one  medical  missionary  who  was  also 
an  elder,  and  thirteen  native  elders.  Mr  Smith  was  called 
to  the  chair,  and  after  united  worship,  Mr  Mackenzie,  the 
next  in  seniority,  gave  some  account  of  the  founding  of 
the  Church  in  the  Tie-chiu  field,  saying  that  there  were 
then  churches  in  twenty-three  places  with  over  700  adult 
members.  He  went  on  to  say  that  the  regulations  of  the 
Church  must  be  based  on  Scripture  teaching,  and  that  in 
former  times  the  apostles  of  the  Lord,  in  establishing 
churches  in  every  place,  forthv/ith  appointed  elders,  who 
should  join  in  caring  for  the  affairs  of  the  Church  for  the 
benefit  of  its  members,  and  in  spreading  abroad  the 
truth  :  and  he  therefore  proposed  that  the  meeting  form 
itself  into  a  presbytery  for  the  care  and  teaching  of  those 
Christians  who  have  learned  the  truth  from  the  mission  in 
Swatow.  The  following  resolutions  were  then  agreed  to 
as  indicating  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  pres- 
bytery : — 

"  I.  The  offices  and  government  of  the  Church  are 
distinct  from  those  of  the  Empire,  and  each  has  its  own 
function.  In  regard  to  worldly  affairs,  these  belong  of 
right  to  the  province  of  civil  government. 

"  2.  According  to  the  usual  practice  of  presbyteries, 
each  congregation  should  have  a  minister  and  one  repre- 
sentative elder  to  discuss  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  but  at 
present,  inasmuch  as  the  churches  have  not  yet  ministers, 
it  will  be  sufficient  that  each  should  depute  one  repre- 
sentative elder  to  form  a  presbytery. 

"  3.  For  the  present,  those  who  have  come  from  the 
West  to  preach  the  truth  and  guide  the  Church,  whether 
ordained  ministers  or  elders,  inasmuch  as  they  all  hold  the 
office  of  the  eldership,  and  have  borne  the  responsibility  of 
planting  the  Church,  therefore  ought  to  be  united  in  the 
discussion    of    the  business   of  the    presbytery ;    but  the 


2  22      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

native  Church  ought  to  be  self-governing,  self-supporting 
and  self-propagating ;  therefore  in  the  future,  when  the 
Church  becomes  stronger,  and  its  members  more  numer- 
ous, all  matters  must  revert  to  the  native  office-bearers  as 
their  own  charge,  that  they  may  lead  the  people  of  our 
native  country  to  turn  to  the  way  of  salvation." 

These  resolutions  were  agreed  to  by  all  present,  and 
immediately  thereafter  the  various  sessions  met  separately 
and  appointed  representative  elders.  In  this  way  the 
presbytery  was  formed  which  has  continued  until  now 
to  bear  the  responsibility  of  carrying  on  the  united  work 
of  the  Christian  Church  throughout  the  region.  Com- 
mittees were  appointed  to  consider  various  matters  of 
immediate  urgency,  and  the  desire  of  the  congregations 
in  the  north-east  for  the  ordination  of  their  own  minister 
was  gratified  not  long  afterwards.  They  chose  from 
amongst  our  preachers  Tan  Khai-lin,  the  first  convert  of 
our  mission  in  Tie-chiu,  and  he  was  ordained  as  their 
minister  on  the   20th  of  September    1882. 

Tan  Khai-lin,  or,  to  use  his  "  literary  name,"  by  which 
more  correctly  he  should  be  remembered.  Tan  Su-tshuan, 
exercised  his  ministry  in  these  four  congregations  till 
his  death,  when  lam-tsau,  the  oldest  of  them,  felt  itself 
able  singly  to  support  a  minister.  He  was  then  called  to 
the  charge  of  that  congregation  separately,  while  the  other 
three  formerly  associated  with  it  called  another  minister 
to  the  joint  pastorate  of  that  group.  On  the  death  of 
Tan  Su-tshuan  in  1892,  the  lam-tsau  congregation,  be- 
sides undertaking  the  support  of  his  successor,  generously 
charged  itself  also  with  making  some  provision  annually 
for  the  family  of  their  late  minister,  who  had  earned  the 
affection  and  esteem  of  all. 

Other  congregations  followed  from  time  to  time  in  the 
same  path  of  independence  and  self-support,  with  the 
best  results.  When  arrangements  now  on  foot  are  com- 
pleted, there  will  be  ten    independent   native  pastorates, 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH    223 

eight  in  the  Hok-lo  and  two  in  the  Hak-ka  section,  in 
each  of  which  the  minister  is  fully  and  suitably  supported 
by  the  gifts  of  his  own  people. 

This  development,  and  the  cultivation  of  the  grace  of 
liberality,  have  been  steadily  fostered  by  the  wise  and 
watchful  care  of  the  native  presbytery.  The  growth  of  a 
sound  financial  system  is  an  interesting  and  important 
chapter  of  our  mission  history.  In  many  of  our  native 
families  very  little  money  passes  through  hand  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  They  live  for  the  most  part  on  the 
produce  of  their  own  land,  and  have  little  money  in  their 
possession  except  after  the  sugar  or  rice  harvest.  As  I 
have  said,  Chinese  villages  generally  wear  an  aspect  of 
poverty.  The  possessors  of  wealth  are  afraid  to  show  it, 
and  the  bulk  of  the  people  are  not  wealthy.  Indeed, 
many  of  the  members  of  the  native  Church  live  habitually 
on  a  level  that  is  little  removed  from  actual  poverty. 
When  the  seasons  are  good,  and  as  long  as  they  have 
health  for  their  daily  work,  they  live  in  fair  comfort  on 
the  produce  of  their  labour,  but  a  time  of  sickness  or  a 
bad  harvest  may  at  any  time  bring  them  into  serious 
difficulty.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the  normal  social 
status  of  the  great  mass  of  the  population  throughout 
China,  and  it  is  not  substantially  different  in  many  other 
mission  fields.  Thus  a  difficulty  has  often  been  felt  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  mission  work.  It  has  seemed  im- 
possible that  people  so  poor  should  be  able  to  maintain 
the  ordinances  of  religion  for  themselves,  or  to  give  much 
assistance  in  its  propagation.  Missionaries  in  the  early 
stages  of  their  work  have  frequently  been  tempted  to 
think  that  they  must  wait  not  only  for  the  growth  of  the 
Christian  Church,  but  also  for  the  ingathering  of  what  are 
called  the  better  classes  of  society,  before  making  any  sub- 
stantial effort  to  develop  self-support  in  the  native  Church. 
The  result  has  been  to  foster  a  dependent  spirit  amongst 
the  converts.     This  tendency  has  been  felt  very  acutely 


2  24      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

in  India,  and  to  this  day  in  many  parts  of  it  the  difficulty 
has  not  been  overcome.  There,  however,  it  is  greatly  in- 
tensified by  the  system  of  caste,  which  often  deprives  a 
Christian  convert  of  his  means  of  living.  He  has  fre- 
quently been  compelled  to  throw  himself  upon  the  care 
of  the  European  missionary  and  depend  upon  him  for 
employment  and  support.  In  China,  as  I  have  explained, 
this  is  not  usually  the  case.  There,  there  is  no  caste 
system,  and  there  is  very  little  of  religious  bigotry.  There 
is  often  opposition,  at  the  outset,  to  the  first  profession  of 
Christian  faith  in  a  village  or  community,  but  when  the 
first  converts  have  been  enabled  to  withstand  this  opposi- 
tion for  a  time  it  usually  dies  away,  and  they  are  able  to 
support  themselves  by  continuing  their  former  industries. 
But  even  in  China  it  was  at  first  felt  to  be  unreasonable 
to  expect  the  small  body  of  Christian  converts  in  their 
poverty  to  maintain  Christian  ordinances  out  of  their  own 
resources.  In  some  missions,  both  in  China  and  else- 
where, methods  have  been  devised  for  giving  pecuniary 
help  to  the  native  Church  in  its  early  stages,  afterwards 
diminishing  the  amount  of  help  given  from  year  to  year, 
until  foreign  help  is  entirely  withdrawn,  and  the  native 
Christian  community  is  thrown  upon  its  own  resources. 
But  this  transition  has  in  practice  always  been  long 
delayed.  The  foreign  help  given  has  weakened  the 
natural  feeling  of  self-respect  and  desire  for  independence, 
and  the  native  Church,  instead  of  seeking  to  hasten  the 
time  when  such  help  might  be  withdrawn,  has  attempted 
to  postpone  what  it  looked  upon  as  the  evil  day  as  far  as 
possible.  In  these  circumstances,  also,  there  has  been  a 
tendency  to  overpay  native  assistants.  Working  as  ser- 
vants of  a  European  mission,  they  have,  not  unnaturally, 
expected  to  be  paid  at  European  rates.  They  have  been 
tempted  also  to  drift  away  from  the  native  style  of  living, 
and  so  to  get  out  of  touch  with  native  society,  and  also 
have   lain  open  to   the  taunt  that  their  only  motive  for 


Mission  Frohlenis  Page  224 

Blind  Lady,  Mother  of  Tan  Khai-Lin 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     225 

teaching  the  foreigners'  religion  was  that  they  were  eating 
the  foreigners'  rice. 

In  south  China  the  founders  of  our  mission  began  to 
work  on  other  and  better  lines.      The  duty  of  giving  both 
to  meet  actual  necessities  and  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
Christian    graces    of   gratitude   and    liberality   was    early 
taught  to  the  native  Church.      It  was  from  the  first  set 
before    them    that    it    was     their    duty    to     support    the 
ordinances   of  religion  amongst   themselves,  and  also  to 
spread  the  Gospel  amongst  their  fellow-countrymen.      It 
was  early  recognised  that  even  in  a  society  where  the  bulk 
of  the  people  are  poor,  a  great  deal  can  be  done  where 
there    is    willingness    and    Christian     liberality.       While 
mission  funds  were  used  to  assist  in  the  planting  of  the 
native  Church,  it  was  from  the  first  made  clear  to  them 
that  such  help  was  only  temporary.     As  the  Church  grew 
in  membership  and  the  number  of  stations  multiplied,  the 
financial    arrangements    made    gradually    took    a    more 
definite  shape.      At  present  the  members  of  every  congre- 
gation and  all  who  worship  with  them  make  offerings  in 
various  forms  for  all  Church  purposes.    Local  expenditure 
for  lighting,  cleaning,  minor  repairs,  and  so  on,  is  met  by 
offerings  which  afe  made  at  the   ordinary   meetings  for 
worship  on  the  Lord's  Day.     According  to  an  ancient  and 
kindly  ecclesiastical  usage,  offerings  made  at  meetings  for 
the  observance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  are  usually  set  apart 
for   giving   to   the   poor.      Besides    these   gifts,  a   special 
contribution   is   made   annually   for    the    support   of   the 
native    preachers.      Every    member   of   the    Church,  and 
many    of   those    worshippers    who    have    not    yet    been 
admitted  to  it,  is  asked  near  the  beginning  of  the  year  to 
say    how    much    he    proposes    to    contribute    during    its 
currency  to  this  fund.     These  contributions  are  afterwards 
paid  in  as  money  comes  to  hand.     There  is  still  a  fourth 
general  fund,  partly  made  up  of  contributions  promised  in 
advance,  partly  from  occasional  offerings  put  into  a  box 

P 


226      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

which  is  placed  in  the  churches  for  the  purpose  of 
receiving  them.  This  is  a  mission  fund,  and  is  expended 
in  the  support  of  native  evangelists  in  out-lying  parts  of 
the  field.  At  the  end  of  the  Chinese  year  all  these 
accounts  are  closed,  and  a  statement  of  them  is  publicly 
made  to  the  congregation.  The  whole  contribution  of  the 
congregation  for  the  support  of  preachers,  and  the  con- 
tribution towards  the  mission  fund,  is  then  transmitted  to 
Swatow,  where  it  is  received  by  a  general  treasurer 
appointed  by  the  native  presbytery,  with  whom  is 
associated  one  of  the  foreign  missionaries.  One  of  these 
co-treasurers  is  intrusted  with  the  money  received,  while 
the  other  keeps  an  accurate  account  of  it,  and  together 
they  report  to  the  annual  meeting  of  presbytery  in  spring. 

The  native  preachers  are,  in  the  first  instance,  in  the 
employment  of  the  mission,  and  their  monthly  salaries  are 
paid  directly  from  mission  funds  by  the  missionary  who 
acts  as  general  treasurer.  But  when  the  presbytery  meets 
in  spring  and  receives  the  report  of  the  native  contri- 
butions towards  the  support  of  the  preachers,  it  votes  the 
sum  received  on  this  account  to  be  paid  over  to  the 
mission  treasurer  to  meet  the  advances  made  by  him. 
In  this  way  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  mission's  expenditure 
on  the  support  of  native  preachers  is  repaid  by  the  native 
contributions.  Some  congregations  send  in  to  the  fund 
as  much  as  they  receive  from  it,  while  others  contribute 
less,  according  to  their  numbers  and  ability.  The 
presbytery  watches  over  the  amounts  contributed,  and  by 
special  deputations  appointed  from  time  to  time  urges  the 
duty  of  Christian  liberality  upon  the  people.  In  case  of 
any  marked  decline  or  failure  to  advance  in  any  particular 
congregation,  special  inquiry  is  made  and  the  congregation 
is  urged  to  make  progress. 

This  method  of  meeting  the  support  of  preachers  leads 
on  easily  and  naturally  to  the  next  stage,  in  which  the 
congregation   attains   to    independence    and    self-support. 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     227 

In  our  mission  it  was  made  a  rule  from  the  first  that  no 
native  minister  should  be  ordained  except  where  there 
was  already  a  native  congregation  prepared  to  undertake 
his  entire  support.  The  only  exception  to  this  principle 
has  been  that  in  the  case  of  smaller  congregations  a  few 
of  these  were  grouped  together  and  allowed  to  combine  in 
calling  one  minister  to  the  joint  charge  of  the  group. 
This,  of  course,  could  only  be  done  in  the  case  of  congre- 
gations at  no  great  distance  from  each  other,  so  that  the 
pastoral  supervision  of  the  group  could  be  efficiently 
carried  on.  When  a  congregation  desires  to  call  a 
minister,  its  first  step  is  to  approach  the  presbytery  with 
an  expression  of  its  desire,  and  on  assurance  that  it  had 
already  contributed  the  funds  necessary  to  meet  the  entire 
expense,  the  presbytery  appoints  a  deputation  of  inquiry, 
who  are  instructed  to  ascertain  that  the  congregation  is 
harmonious  and  earnest  in  its  desire  for  the  ordination  of 
a  minister,  and  that  it  has  not  only  promised  the  amount 
necessary  for  his  support,  but  has  already  paid  one  year's 
salary  into  the  treasurer's  hands  in  advance.  On  the 
report  of  this  deputation,  the  presbytery  having  satisfied 
itself  that  all  requirements  have  been  met,  then  sanctions 
its  proceeding  to  call  a  minister. 

The  amount  to  be  given  as  salary  is  determined  by 
the  congregation,  subject  to  the  review  and  approval  of 
the  presbytery.  In  this  way  the  amount  given  is 
regulated  by  native  standards,  and  the  foreign  missionaries 
are  spared  the  somewhat  invidious  task  of  determining 
the  amount  to  be  given.  The  pastorate  is  placed  from 
the  beginning  on  an  independent  footing.  No  support  is 
derived  from  mission  funds,  and  no  direct  control  over  the 
congregation  or  its  minister  is  exercised  by  the  mission- 
aries. They  act  only  through  the  native  presbytery,  in 
which  they  are  associated  with  a  considerable  body  of 
native  elders  and  ministers,  by  whom,  indeed,  the  foreign 
missionaries  would  be  at  any  time  outvoted.     But  while 


2  28      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

in  the  native  presbytery  votes  have  often  been  taken  upon 
a  large  variety  of  matters,  the  division  has  never  been 
between  natives  on  the  one  hand  and  foreigners  on  the 
other.  In  all  our  votes  natives  and  foreigners  have  been 
found  on  both  sides  ;  and  while  the  natives  exercise  full 
independence  of  judgment  and  action,  they  have  at  the 
same  time  always  shown  themselves  abundantly  ready  to 
give  all  due  weight  to  the  opinion  of  the  missionaries,  who 
numerically  form  but  a  small  minority  of  the  presbytery. 
We  have  thus  been  able  to  escape  in  our  churches  in 
south  China  any  antagonism  between  the  foreign  and  the 
native  elements.  The  experience  of  some  other  missions, 
both  in  China  and  elsewhere,  has  not  always  been  so 
fortunate.  Where  the  native  Church  has  been  kept  too 
long  in  pupilage  its  natural  independence  has  been 
allowed  to  die  out,  and  all  problems  connected  with  the 
planting  of  the  Church  have  been  left  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  unaided  efforts  of  the  foreign  missionaries.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  an  effort  has  been  made  to  introduce  a 
more  healthy  condition  of  Church  life,  difficult  questions 
have  arisen.  The  native  Church  has  become  accustomed 
to  lean  upon  the  support  of  mission  funds,  and  has  had  no 
experience  or  training  in  the  management  of  its  own 
affairs.  The  funds  used  in  Church  work  having  come 
wholly  from  foreign  sources,  the  missionaries  have  rightly 
been  accustomed  to  exercise  the  entire  control  over  them. 
A  withdrawal  of  foreign  funds  seems  to  the  native  Church 
to  indicate  a  lack  of  sympathy  and  generosity,  while  the 
missionaries,  on  the  other  hand,  have  naturally  become 
somewhat  unwilling  to  allow  the  sole  control  of  Church 
matters  to  pass  out  of  their  own  hands  into  the  hands  of 
natives  who  have  had  no  opportunity  of  showing  any 
capacity  for  wielding  it.  The  stage  of  transition  from  the 
old  regime  to  the  new  thus  becomes  so  difficult  that  it 
has  been  in  many  cases  indefinitely  postponed,  and  in 
others  has  been  the  cause  of  misunderstandings  and  heart- 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     229 

burnings  which  have  for  a  length  of  time  seriously  injured 
the  work  of  the  mission. 

Under  the  system  which  I  have  described  there  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  a  transition  stage  at  all.  From  the 
beginning  the  self-support  and  the  independence  of  the 
native  Church  have  been  looked  forward  to  on  both  sides 
as  the  natural  and  normal  condition  of  affairs.  Congre- 
gations  in  their  early  years  have  received  all  the  help 
from  foreign  funds  and  the  guidance  of  the  foreign 
missionaries  which  their  necessities  required  ;  at  the  same 
time  they  have  from  the  beginning  been  making  an  effort 
to  meet  those  necessities  out  of  their  own  resources,  and 
have  been  gradually  rising  step  by  step  towards  the 
position  of  self-support.  During  the  process  a  body  of 
workers,  consisting  of  elders,  preachers  and  native  ministers, 
have  been  trained  by  experience  in  the  conduct  of  Church 
work.  As  soon  as  a  congregation  is  able  to  stand  alone, 
and  makes  the  necessary  effort  for  the  support  of  its  own 
minister,  all  its  affairs  pass  naturally  into  native  hands. 
The  missionaries  have  meantime  acquired  confidence  in  their 
native  fellow-workers,  their  own  work  has  been  developing 
in  other  directions,  and  they  are  more  than  willing  to  be 
relieved  to  a  large  extent  of  the  care  of  congregations 
which  no  longer  require  their  continual  supervision.  It 
is  usual  in  such  circumstances  to  maintain  such  friendly 
relations  with  the  native  ministers  and  office-bearers  that, 
even  where  complete  independence  has  been  established, 
friendly  advice  and  guidance  can  be  given  without  any 
assumption  of  official  authority.  The  missionaries,  having 
a  seat  in  the  native  presbytery,  have  ample  opportunities 
of  influencing  the  action  of  the  native  Church,  while  yet 
congregations  which  have  reached  the  footing  of  self- 
support  do  not  feel  themselves  under  any  restraint  or 
unnecessary  obligation,  and  they  learn  to  look  to  the 
presbytery,  in  which  the  native  element  predominates,  as 
the  only  authority  which  officially  controls  their  affairs. 


2  30      THIRD  STAGE  OF  MISSION  WORK 

The  independence  of  the  native  Church  becomes  a  reality, 
and  it  is  established  by  easy  steps,  in  which  no  awkward 
and  embarrassing  stage  of  transition  requires  to  be  passed 
through. 

In  discussing  the  planting  and  organisation  of  the 
native  Church,  I  have  assumed  from  the  beginning  the 
employment  of  native  preachers,  as  a  natural  and  necessary 
method  of  mission  work.  Perhaps,  however,  this  should 
not  be  taken  for  granted.  The  question  has  often  been 
raised  whether  members  of  the  native  Church  should  be 
formally  employed  as  preachers  at  all,  and  also  whether 
when  so  employed  they  ought  to  any  extent  to  be 
supported  by  the  aid  of  foreign  funds.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  wherever  a  Christian  Church  has  been  planted, 
however  small  its  numbers,  it  will  be  found  to  contain  in 
itself  the  necessary  elements  for  its  own  instruction  and 
edification.  It  is  asserted,  chiefly  on  theoretical  grounds, 
that  every  Christian  community  has  necessarily  within 
itself  the  presence  and  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  that 
these  are  the  real  bases  for  the  healthy  development  of 
Church  life,  and  that  only  harm  is  done  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  men  officially  charged  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  It  is  further  said  that  to  aid  in  the  employment 
of  such  preachers  by  the  use  of  funds  drawn  from  the 
givings  of  Christian  people  in  other  lands  must  necessarily 
weaken  the  life  of  the  native  Church,  and  lead  to  the 
neglect  and  ultimate  loss  of  its  own  spiritual  gifts.  It 
appears  to  me  that  this  contention  is  neither  justified  by 
any  right  reading  of  Scripture  nor  by  the  results  of  ex- 
perience. It  is  certainly  a  fundamental  Christian  principle 
that  the  strong  should  help  the  weak,  and  the  principle 
is  largely  acted  upon  to  great  advantage  in  our  own 
Church  life  at  home.  In  Scotland,  at  least,  and  notably 
in  the  Free  Church,  many  congregations  are  maintained 
in  poor  districts  by  the  assistance  given  by  larger  and 
wealthier  congregations  elsewhere.     There  seems  no  reason 


ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH     231 

why  the  action  of  this  principle  should  be  restricted  by 
limits  of  nationality  and  colour.  The  accumulated  energy 
of  spiritual  life,  and  the  wealth  of  the  Christian  Church 
where  it  has  been  long  established,  may  well  be  drawn 
upon,  not  only  for  its  own  support  within  the  bounds 
of  one  country,  but  also  to  foster  the  planting  of  the 
Gospel  in  new  regions  in  other  lands.  Where  the 
attempt  has  been  made  to  plant  congregations  on  the 
mission  field,  and  leave  them  for  years  to  their  own 
resources  for  mutual  edification  and  instruction,  the  result 
has  often  been  to  produce  a  Church  which  remains  for 
years  on  low  levels  of  spiritual  life,  without  making  any 
substantial  advance  in  Christian  intelligence  and  knowledge 
of  divine  truth.  Where,  on  the  other  hand,  preachers 
with  more  or  less  preparatory  training  and  instruction 
have  been  appointed  to  labour  in  such  young  Churches, 
even  though  supported  by  funds  drawn  from  other  sources, 
the  result  has  been  that  by  their  teaching  and  example 
they  have  developed  among  the  members  of  the  Church 
a  more  intelligent  understanding  of  what  their  Christian 
calling  is.  They  have  enabled  them  to  rise  to  higher 
levels  of  attainment,  and  have  in  every  way  fostered  and 
strengthened  Christian  life  amongst  them. 

Two  dangers  have  to  be  guarded  against.  On  the  one 
hand,  no  recent  convert  should  be  hastily  employed  in 
any  office  to  which  payment  is  attached.  On  the  other, 
help  given  in  the  maintenance  of  preachers  at  new 
stations  must  never  be  given  in  such  a  way  as  to  check 
the  efforts  of  the  people,  either  in  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  among  their  neighbours,  or  in  the  support  of  the 
ministry  of  the  Word  among  themselves.  But  with  these 
precautions  there  is  both  room  and  need  for  the  help 
that  may  be  given  by  the  older  Churches  to  those  newly 
planted  on  the  mission  field. 

There  is  a  real  danger  also  that  Church  organisation 
may  be  pushed  too  far.      In  all  such  work  it  is  needful  to 


232      FIRST  STAGE  OF  MISSION   WORK 

remember  that  with  varieties  of  circumstance  there  may 
very  well  be  "  differences  of  administrations."  The  only 
essential  is  that  there  must  always  be  present  the  "  One 
Spirit."  Where  He  is  and  works  all  will  go  well.  But 
His  free  working  can  only  be  enjoyed  if  we  remember 
that  the  planting  of  the  Church  and  its  nurture  is  a  work 
to  be  touched  only  with  careful  and  reverent  hands.  We 
are  not  "  pegging  out  a  claim  "  on  Eastern  soil  for  a 
Western  sect.  We  are  not  in  China  to  fit  together 
mechanically  a  reduced  copy  of  the  forms  in  which  the 
course  of  history  has  moulded  the  Churches  of  our  birth. 
We  are  not  there  to  translate  into  Chinese  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith,  or  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
or  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  It  is  our  happier  lot  to 
lead  Christ's  people  there  to  the  simplest  and  most 
natural  exercise  of  their  ordered  liberty  ;  and  to  follow 
with  them  the  Divine  Spirit  whose  working  is  always 
new  and  free,  in  the  sure  faith  that  He  will  Himself  shape 
aright  his  Church,  in  the  life  of  holiness  and  by  the  law 
of  love. 


EXPLANATION  OF  DIAGRAiM. 


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*"oo       ::„- 


The  red  cur 
nected  with 
and  Hoklo). 

One  fifth  of  an  inch  horizontally  represents  one  year,  while  one  fifth  ol  an 
inch  vertically  represents  one  hundred  communicants.     Where  the  line  is  Si.lid 
it  represents  the  actual  figures  from  the  annual  statistics ;  where  it  is  dotted 
figures  are  lacking,  and  the  dotted  line  connects  the  points  for  which 
figures  are  procurable. 

2.  The  blue  line  represents  in  the  same  manner  the  growth  of  die  total 
membership  of  all  the  Protestant  Charches  throughout  China.  But  to  bring 
this  into  the  same  diagram  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  vertical  scale  to  one 
twenty-fifth  of  that  of  the  red  line.  For  the  blue  curve,  therefore,  while  one 
fifth  of  an  inch  horizontally  still  represents  one  year,  one  fifth  of  an  inch  verti- 
cally represents  in  this  ca.se  two  thousand  five  hundred  communicants.  Further 
as  the  figures  for  this  curve  only  exist  for  a  few  poinU,  the  greater  part  of  it  is 
dotted  as  explained  above.     There  are  no  reliable  figures  later  than   1893. 

deducting  the  heavy  losses  during 


It  is  probable 


;  and  more  steep. 


^'^s*.'' Inch  '-  One  year 


end  of  the  y 

It  is  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  blue  curve  and  the  r 
character.  Both  begin  with  a  flat  line  which  for  many  y 
rise.  Then  they  rise  gradually  in  a  curve  which  become; 
This  means  that  the  first  converts  are  slowly  won,  and  for  long  there  is  little 
growth.  But  as  soon  as  a  few  are  gathered  they  become  a  power  for  good,  and 
growth  is  rapidly  accelerated.  The  interpretation  of  these  lines  is  full  of 
encouragement.  They  are  curves  of  acceleration.  They  mean  that  Christians 
bring  in  Christians ;  and  that  as  their  numbers  increase  so  the  tendency  to 
increase  rises  in  a  rapidly  augmenting  ratio. 

The  third  curve,  the  black  line,  is  of  a  markedly  different  character.  It 
also  indicates  growth,  but  of  a  less  regular  and  more  spasmodic  kind.  It 
represents  the  amount  of  the  givings  for  all  Church  purposes  of  the  Native 
Church  connected  with  the  English  Presbyterian  Mission,  in  the  Swatow 
Field.  In  this  line  one  fifth  of  an  inch  indicates,  as  before,  one  year,  but  one 
fifth  of  an  inch  vertically  indicates  givings  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred 
dollars  (Mexican,  worth  about  two  shillings  at  present).  This  scale  has  been 
so  chosen  that  if  each  communicant  were  always  giving  at  the  rate  of  three 
dollars  yearly,  the  red  line  and  the  black  would  coincide.  The  record  of  givings 
is  incomplete  in  the  earlier  years,  and  the  amount  can  only  be  given  from  1884 
onwards.  This  curve  rises  fitfully  in  alternate  years  till  1893,  and  then  ascends 
rapidly  till  1899.  The  figures  for  1900  are  not  yet  to  hand.  During  1898  the 
black  line  crosses  the  red,  and  afterwards  remains  above  it,  showing  that  in 
that  year  the  rate  of  giving  reached  three  dollars  per 


diagram  are  capable  of  wide  1 
Mission  problems,  as  they  an 


Curves 

of 

he 

kind  shown  in  t 

ed  appli 

al 

on  i 

the  discussion 

in  othe 

rd 

epai 

ments  of  social 

LECTURE    IX 

GROWTH    AND    CHARACTER    OF    THE    CHURCH 
Part  I. — Numerical  Growth  and  the  Heathen  Background 

The  numerical  growth  of  the  native  Church  in  China  was 
for  many  years  extremely  slow.  Protestant  missions 
there  date  from  the  landing  of  Robert  Morrison  in  1807. 
But  in  the  year  1843  there  were  only  six  communi- 
cants connected  with  Protestant  missions.  In  1853  there 
were  350;  in  1865,  2000;  in  1876,  13,000;  in  1886, 
28,000;  in  1889,  37,000;  in  1893,  55,000;  and  at 
present  there  are  between  80,000  and  90,000  com- 
municants. The  rate  of  increase,  though  slow  indeed  in 
the  early  years,  has  been  rising  rapidly  in  the  later. 
Calculations  are  sometimes  made  by  the  critics  of  missions 
as  to  the  number  of  converts  gathered  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  missionaries  employed,  and  to  the  cost  of 
the  missions.  A  recent  traveller  in  China  announced  that 
he  had  formed  a  low  opinion  of  the  prospects  of  missions 
there,  and  presented  a  calculation  to  the  effect  that  the 
harvest  reaped  by  the  missionaries  might  be  described  as 
"  amounting  to  a  fraction  more  than  two  Chinamen  per 
missionary  per  annum." 

Calculations  of  this  kind  are  of  no  value  from  any 
point  of  view.  They  belong  to  the  dark  ages  of  the  end 
of  last  century,  when  men  did  not  know  what  missions 
are.  But  now  the  man  of  average  education  is  expected 
to  know  better.  Curiously,  the  outside  amateur  seems 
always  to  think  of  the  missionary  as  engaged  in  "  making 
converts."  The  truth  is,  that  most  missionaries  are 
engaged,  for  the    most   part,   not   so    much   in    "  making 

233 


234  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

converts,"  as  in  training  and  organising  bodies  of  converts 
already  made.  The  universal  testimony  of  missionaries 
is  that  converts  are  made  by  the  native  Christians. 

One  man  gives  himself  to  healing  the  sick,  and  the 
doctor  who  sees  his  50  or  100  patients  daily,  nearly 
all  uninstructed  heathen,  has  little  time  for  "  making 
converts."  Another  gives  nine  -  tenths  of  his  time  to 
school  work,  or  to  the  training  of  preachers  ;  another 
gives  a  large  proportion  of  it  to  translation  or  other 
literary  work.  This  must  be  done  in  order  to  give  the 
people  the  Scriptures,  so  that  the  converts  may  have  an 
intelligent  knowledge  of  the  religion  which  they  profess. 
So  also  text-books  for  school  and  college  use  are  pro- 
vided. All  this  is  needed  not  only  for  the  immediate 
wants  of  the  converts,  but  also  to  reach  readers  outside  of 
mission  circles.  We  have  now  hundreds  of  books  of  all 
sorts  and  sizes,  and  in  various  languages  of  China  :  trans- 
lations of  Scripture,  commentaries,  treatises  on  theology, 
on  mental  philosophy,  chemistry,  astronomy,  geometry, 
algebra,  law,  anatomy,  physiology,  materia  medica,  mid- 
wifery, Chinese  and  foreign  history  and  geography,  essays 
on  religious  topics,  treatises  on  native  religions,  on  the 
methods  of  Western  civilisation,  newspapers  and  periodi- 
cals, both  religious  and  general,  etc.,  etc.  These  have  a 
large  circulation,  and  find  thousands  of  readers. 

Is  this  voluminous  Christian  literature,  much  of  it  of 
excellent  quality,  not  to  be  reckoned  as  part  of  the 
missionaries'  "  harvest  "  ?  Again,  consider  the  time  and 
labour  spent  in  negotiating  for  sites  or  buildings,  or 
planning  and  building  churches,  schools,  hospitals, 
dwelling-houses,  and  all  the  brick  and  mortar  require- 
ment of  a  successful  and  permanent  work.  Is  all  that 
to  be  left  out  of  the  account  ?  Moreover,  as  the  result  01 
what  has  been  done,  there  is  over  large  parts  of  China  a 
friendlier  feeling  to  the  missionaries  and  a  better  under- 
standing of  their  aim  than  before.     This  exists  among  the 


OF  THE  CHURCH  235 

people  to  a  far  larger  extent  than  is  generally  known, 
notwithstanding  the  calculated  hostility  of  the  literary  and 
official  class,  the  champions  of  privilege  and  caste,  who 
are  the  natural  foes  of  light  and  individual  liberty. 

Now  apart  from  all  questions  about  "  converts,"  all  this 
represents  a  "  harvest "  of  enormous  amount  and  of  quite 
unspeakable  value. 

Missionaries  give,  no  doubt,  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
open-air  preaching  and  to  individual  dealing,  seeking  in 
these  and  other  ways  to  "  make  converts."  But  every 
wise  missionary,  if  the  supposition  be  allowed,  will  say 
that  his  converts  are  made  by  the  native  Christians. 
Progress  at  first  is  always  slow,  for  the  very  reason  that 
there  are  as  yet  no  native  Christians.  But  as  soon  as  a 
few  are  gathered  they  begin  by  word  and  example  to 
bring  in  others,  and  it  is  usually  as  much  as  the  mis- 
sionary can  do  to  keep  pace  with  the  examination  and 
training  of  the  inquirers  brought  to  him  by  the  native 
Christians.  To  suppose  that  there  is  any  direct  causal 
ratio  between  the  number  of  the  missionaries  and  the 
number  of  "  converts,"  is  to  mistake  the  whole  situation. 
Whether  the  critic's  figures  are  real  or  imaginary  does 
not  appear,  and  it  really  does  not  matter.  He  gets  the 
number  of  missionaries,  then  gets,  one  knows  not  how,  a 
number  which  he  takes  to  be  the  number  of  converts  per 
annum.  Then  he  divides  the  one  by  the  other  and 
demonstrates  !  He  might  just  as  well  take  the  height  of 
the  barometer  and  divide  by  the  latitude  !  The  result 
has  no  significance.  By  taking  all  the  missionaries,  and 
only  the  registered  "  converts,"  i.e.  only  communicants, 
by  mixing  old  and  new  missions,  evangelistic,  educa- 
tional and  medical,  all  in  one,  he  succeeds  in  combining 
all  the  faults  by  which  the  figures  of  rash  statisticians  can 
be  vitiated. 

He  includes  missions  only  newly  begun,  and  missionaries 
of  whom  many  are  only  learning  to  speak.     On  the  other 


236  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

hand,  he  omits  multitudes  of  people  who  are  under  in- 
struction, who  are  eager  to  be  baptised,  but  whose 
acceptance  is  delayed  by  the  prudence  of  the  mission- 
aries. To  all  intents  and  purposes  many  of  these  are,  in 
the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  "  Christians  "  already, 
and  might  well  be  reckoned  as  "  converts."  Thus  by  a 
double  error  his  ratio  comes  out  vitiated  in  every  possible 
way.  Science  is  never  advanced  by  misinterpreted  figures 
worked  through  a  meaningless  calculation. 

Something  like  the  truth  may  be  got  by  taking  a 
representative  case.  Take  the  actual  case  of  a  missionary 
who  came  out  twenty  years  ago.  A  year  and  a  half 
passed  before  his  first  baptism  of  a  "  convert."  This 
time  was  spent  chiefly  in  learning  the  language.  There- 
after the  annual  numbers  baptised  by  him  ran  as 
follows: — First  year  24,  next  42,  then  54,  then  38, 
then  38  ;  or  an  average  over  the  first  five  active  years 
of  39  per  annum.  This  is  an  average  case,  and  larger 
figures  might  often  be  found.  In  most  parts  of  the  older 
mission  fields  in  China  it  would  be  easy  for  the  mission- 
aries, if  regardless  of  quality,  to  add  to  their  membership 
at  the  rate  of  hundreds  per  missionary  per  annum.  A 
comparatively  low  rate  of  increase  only  shows  the  pru- 
dence of  the  missionaries.  Most  missionaries  refuse  more 
than  they  baptise  every  year. 

If  one  were  to  follow  this  futile  method  of  calculation 
of  the  number  of  converts  gathered  as  the  harvest  per 
missionary  per  annum,  we  should  find  the  rate  consider- 
ably higher,  when  rightly  estimated,  than  two  per 
missionary.  After  making  deductions  for  missionaries 
invalided  or  on  furlough,  and  for  those  newly  arrived 
who  are  still  occupied  in  learning  the  language,  but 
making  none  for  missionaries  occupied  wholly  in  medical, 
literary,  or  educational  work,  I  find,  on  a  rough  calcula- 
tion for  the  thirteen  years  between  1876  and  1889,  that 
the  so-called  harvest  per  missionary  gives  an  average  of 


OF  THE  CHURCH  237 

about  fourteen  converts  per  missionary  yearly.  No  doubt 
the  addition  of  fourteen  members  in  twelve  months  is  not 
a  large  achievement  taken  by  itself,  although  even  if  that 
were  all,  a  man  might  spend  his  life  in  less  profitable 
ways.  But  when  you  consider  that  each  of  those  fourteen 
becomes  in  turn  himself  an  influence  upon  the  native 
society  round  about  him,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
missionary's  work  has  told  in  innumerable  other  direc- 
tions as  well,  the  sum  of  his  success  begins  to  look  some- 
what larger.  Even  on  the  score  of  numbers  another  item 
should  have  been  taken  into  the  calculation.  The  dead, 
whom  we  mournfully  deduct  from  our  tables  of  statistics, 
should,  when  we  estimate  our  harvest,  be  counted.  Those 
who  die  in  the  Lord  are  not  to  be  reckoned  as  loss  to  the 
Christian  cause,  but  as  clear,  complete,  and  final  gain. 
How  many  of  the  Christian  converts  died  during  the 
thirteen  years  referred  to,  I  have  not  the  means  of  esti- 
mating, but  if  these  be  added  to  the  result,  the  number  of 
fourteen  additions  should  be  perhaps  doubled.  The  truth 
is,  that  if  we  are  to  look  for  a  law  of  increase,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  increase  of  the  Church's  membership 
during  any  period  is  not  proportional  to  the  number  of 
missionaries  at  work,  but  rather  to  the  number  of  natives 
who  are  already  members  of  it.  For  the  Church  does 
not  grow  by  the  accretion  of  individual  units  added  to  it 
by  labourers  who  stand  outside.  It  grows  as  a  plant 
grows,  by  an  inward  process  of  multiplication,  acting  at 
innumerable  points  on  the  world  around  it,  and  absorbing 
what  lies  outside  into  itself  by  a  process  of  vital  incor- 
poration. I  have  made  an  experiment  in  indicating  the 
growth  of  Christian  Churches  upon  mission  fields  by  the 
method  of  a  diagram  commonly  used  in  physical  science 
to  represent  processes  of  change.  Taking  equal  lengths 
along  a  horizontal  line  to  represent  years,  and  equal 
vertical  lengths  to  represent  numbers  of  communicants, 
it   is  possible  to  lay  down   a  curve  which  represents  at 


238  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

once  to  the  eye  not  only  the  growth  of  the  Church  at 
different  times,  but  the  variations  in  the  rate  of  growth 
from  year  to  year.  By  this  means  the  interesting  law  is 
made  visible  to  the  eye  that  a  new  Church  grows  slowly 
for  many  of  its  early  years,  because  the  number  of  its 
members  who  are  themselves  the  ultimate  condition  of 
growth  is  still  small  ;  but  as  that  number  increases,  the 
rate  of  growth  tends  to  increase  with  it ;  and  the  curve 
which  represents  the  result,  which  for  years  at  the  outset 
is  a  flat  curve  remaining  nearly  parallel  with  the  base 
line,  tends  to  rise  more  and  more  sharply  upwards  as  it 
is  prolonged  with  the  increasing  years. 

With  regard  to  the  Swatow  district  itself  which  I  have 
taken  as  a  specimen  of  mission  work,  the  number  of  com- 
municants at  the  end  of  1899  was  2606,  321  having  been 
added  during  the  year,  though  taking  deaths  and  other 
removals  into  account,  there  was  a  nett  increase  of  only 
230.  In  addition  to  these  communicants  we  had  on  our 
rolls,  in  all  the  congregations  under  our  care,  i  52  members 
under  suspension.  There  was  also  a  membership  of  bap- 
tised children  amounting  to  1195.  These  members  of 
the  Church  are  distributed  into  about  eighty  congregations, 
most  of  which  are  cared  for  by  native  preachers  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  foreign  missionaries,  who  visit 
them  as  time  permits.  There  are  seven  native  pastorates, 
to  which  I  have  already  referred.  These  are  under  the 
care  of  native  ministers,  supported  entirely  by  the  givings 
of  their  own  congregations,  and  exercise  their  own  discip- 
line by  native  sessions.  Taking  the  contributions  of  the 
native  Church  as  another  test  of  the  earnestness  and 
vigour  of  their  Christian  life,  I  have  laid  down  alongside 
of  the  curve  of  membership  a  similar  curve  to  indicate  the 
rate  of  giving.  It  also  tends  steadily  to  rise,  and  stands 
at  present  at  about  three  (Mexican)  dollars  and  a  quarter, 
which  for  practical  purposes  may  be  interpreted  as  the 
equivalent  of  ^^3,  5s.  per  member  per  annum. 


OF  THE  CHURCH  239 

When  the  question  is  asked,  "What  is  the  character  of 
the  Christian  converts  in  China  ?  "  it  is  necessary  first  to 
clear  our  ideas  on  some  points.  For  one  thing,  it  is  often 
assumed  that  there  are  only  two  possible  answers  to  this 
question,  and  that  the  converts  must  be  either  angels  or 
shams.  We  who  know  them  do  not  believe  that  they  are 
either.  You  must  first  consider  what  the  standard  of 
comparison  is  to  be.  Shall  we  compare  them  with  Chris- 
tians in  this  country  with  generations  of  Christian  life 
behind  them,  and  surrounded  by  every  influence  that  can 
strengthen  and  help  forward  character  and  attainment? 
One  sometimes  hears  the  answer  given  that  the  converts 
on  the  mission  field  are  as  good  Christians  as  the  average 
membership  of  our  Churches  at  home.  In  one  sense  I 
believe  the  assertion  can  be  justified,  but  the  comparison 
is  essentially  unfair.  Here  you  have  the  ripe  fruits  of  a 
Christianity  which  was  planted  more  than  a  thousand 
years  ago.  The  Word  of  God  has  been  among  you  all 
these  Christian  centuries.  You  have  in  every  part  of  the 
country  a  highly  trained  ministry,  a  gifted  and  devoted 
eldership,  and  a  whole  army  of  Christian  workers  of  all 
ranks.  You  work  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  Christian  society, 
and  under  a  settled  Christian  government.  You  have  an 
immense  and  varied  Christian  literature,  and  notwith- 
standing all  defects  and  drawbacks,  you  have  on  your  side 
a  weight  of  Christian  tradition  and  a  wealth  of  Christian 
example.  Under  such  circumstances  and  in  such  an 
atmosphere,  what  are  we  not  entitled  to  expect  of  those 
who  bear  the  Christian  name  ?  What  justice  is  there,  or 
what  reasonableness,  in  demanding  as  a  test  of  genuine- 
ness the  same  degree  of  attainment  on  the  part  of  Chris- 
tian people,  many  of  them  uneducated,  who  are  only  just 
emerging  from  the  deadness  and  insensibility  of  heathen- 
ism ?  With  all  our  advantages  and  opportunities  at  home, 
let  us  remember  the  ghastly  imperfections  of  our  Christian 
life  ;  the  dishonesties  of  trade  ;  the  jealousies  and  rivalries 


240  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

of  Churches  ;  and  the  selfishness  of  social  life.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  in  all  my  experience  of  mission  work, 
and  in  meditation  upon  it,  the  one  discouraging  thought 
that  sometimes  comes  over  me  is  this  :  "  Are  we  working 
in  China  only  to  found  there  a  Christian  society,  which, 
a  thousand  years  hence,  will  be  no  better  than  our  own  ?  " 

Then,  on  the  other  hand,  consider  the  conditions  under 
which  the  Christian  life  is  lived  in  China.  There,  as  I 
have  said  to  you  before,  everything  is  hostile  to  it.  It  is 
striking  its  roots  in  an  uncongenial  soil,  and  breathes  a 
polluted  air.  It  may  justly  claim  for  itself  the  beautiful 
emblem  so  happily  seized,  though  so  poorly  justified,  by 
Buddhism — the  emblem  of  the  lotus.  It  roots  itself  in 
rotten  mud,  thrusts  up  the  spears  of  its  leaves  and  blos- 
soms through  the  foul  and  stagnant  water,  and  lifts  its 
spotless  petals  over  all,  holding  them  up  pure,  stainless, 
and  fragrant,  in  the  face  of  a  burning  and  pitiless  sun.  So 
it  is  with  the  Christian  life  in  China.  Its  existence  there 
is  a  continuous  miracle  of  life,  of  life  more  abundant. 

And  if  you  are  to  judge  it  you  must  judge  it  with 
reference  to  its  surroundings.  You  must  not  compare  it 
with  Christian  life  at  home,  but  with  the  heathen  life 
around  it  out  of  which  it  has  lifted  itself,  and  against 
whose  every  influence  it  maintains  continual  protest,  and 
with  which  it  wages  victorious  war. 

What,  then,  is  the  moral  state  of  the  heathen  people 
among  whom  the  mission  Church  is  planted  ?  I  have 
tried  to  give  you  a  slight  view  of  their  history,  their  litera- 
ture, religion  and  social  life,  but  it  is  no  easy  matter  to 
give  a  just  appreciation  of  the  outcome  of  all  these  things 
in  the  daily  life  of  the  people. 

In  estimating  the  moral  condition  of  any  people  it  is 
necessary  to  discriminate  clearly  what  is  really  moral  in 
thought  and  conduct  from  what  is  matter  of  convention 
or  national  temperament.  Actions  which,  in  a  civilisation 
like  our  own,  have  a  definite  moral  significance,  may  have 


OF  THE  CHURCH  241 

none  in  a  country  like  China.  In  analysing  our  own  life 
and  manners  it  is  not  always  easy  to  say  how  much  of  it 
all  rests  really  on  a  moral  basis  ;  how  much  is  due  to 
habit  and  circumstance,  and  how  much  to  positive  moral 
motive.  The  savages  of  Polynesia  or  Central  Africa 
occupy  one  level ;  the  old  civilisation  of  China  another  ; 
and  our  own  highly  complex  state  of  society  a  third.  If 
we  apply  the  same  standard  of  judgment  to  all  three, 
or  even  affix  to  the  same  actions  the  same  interpretations, 
nothing  but  confusion  and  misunderstanding  can  result. 
For  a  people  to  live  by  hereditary  habit  below  the  stage 
at  which  certain  moral  distinctions  emerge,  is  one  thing  ; 
but  for  a  people  who  have  reached  these  standards  after- 
wards consciously  to  depart  from  them,  or  unconsciously 
to  lapse  from  them,  is  quite  another.  Defects  of  individual 
character  or  conduct  which  might  have  a  grave  moral 
significance  in  one  state  of  society,  may  argue  in  another 
only  a  non-moral  but  not  necessarily  zm-mora.\  coarseness 
of  natural  fibre,  and  in  another  still  may  be  due  only  to 
the  dulness  or  the  simplicity  of  a  still  dormant  moral 
nature. 

Keeping  these  distinctions  in  view,  we  must  estimate 
the  attainments  of  the  people  partly  by  the  standards  set 
forth  in  their  authoritative  literature  and  recognised  by 
popular  opinion.  The  higher  these  are,  the  higher  must 
be  the  grade  to  which  we  assign  them  in  regard  to 
questions  of  moral  character ;  but  we  must  also  in  these 
circumstances  estimate  by  a  stricter  standard  the  pre- 
valent characteristics  of  the  individual,  and  we  must  con- 
demn the  more  severely  their  practical  departures  from 
their  own  code. 

The  code  in  China  is  pure  and  high,  and  it  is  wide 
enough  to  afford  ample  material  for  judging  actual  life. 

Confucius  was  asked  by  Tsze  Kung,  "  Is  there  one 
word  which  may  serve  as  a  rule  to  practice  for  all  one's 
life  ? "     Confucius    replied,    "  Is    not    reciprocity   such    a 

Q 


242  GR  OWTH  A  ND  CHA  RA  CTER 

word  ?  What  you  do  not  want  done  to  yourself,  do  not 
do  to  others."  This  utterance  deserves  much  of  the 
praise  which  has  been  bestowed  upon  it,  but  it  is  unjusti- 
fiable to  represent  it  as  equivalent  to  our  Lord's  golden 
rule.  It  must  be  estimated  in  the  light  of  other  utter- 
ances which  explain  more  fully  the  speaker's  meaning. 
On  another  occasion  some  one  asked  Confucius,  "  What 
do  you  say  concerning  the  principle  that  injury  should  be 
recompensed  with  kindness  ? "  To  which  he  replied : 
"  With  what,  then,  will  you  recompense  kindness  ?  Re- 
compense injury  with  justice,  and  recompense  kindness 
with  kindness."  One  can  see  from  these  words  how  far 
Confucius  was  from  the  golden  rule.  He  was  outstripped 
in  this,  as  in  some  other  lines  of  thought,  by  the  old 
Taoist  Lau-tsze.  In  his  book  of  "  The  Absolute  and  the 
Actual "  he  says  :  "It  is  the  way  of  the  Tao  to  recom- 
pense injury  with  kindness."  Whether  the  question  about 
kindness  was  asked  of  Confucius  with  direct  reference  to 
this  passage  is  uncertain.  What  is  clear  is  that  the  idea 
already  taught  by  Lau-tsze,  when  presented  to  Confucius, 
was  rejected  as  too  high  and  fine  for  this  world. 

There  is  a  beautiful  expression  in  which  Mencius  says, 
"  Benevolence  is  man's  peaceful  home ;  righteousness  is 
his  straight  path.  Alas,  for  those  who  leave  the  peaceful 
home  untenanted,  and  the  straight  path  untrod  ! "  But 
the  "  alas "  with  which  the  saying  is  weighted  must  be 
uttered  with  double  emphasis  when  we  remember  that  in 
China  those  who  leave  the  "  home "  and  the  "  path "  of 
man  untenanted  and  untrod  are  practically  the  whole 
body  of  the  people,  high  and  low. 

It  would  be  wrong  to  say  that  there  is  no  benevolence 
in  China.  The  word  is  everywhere.  In  streets,  temples, 
public  buildings,  and  mercantile  firms,  it  is  used  con- 
tinually as  an  element  in  the  style  or  name  by  which  they 
are  known.  Every  man  who  has  younger  brothers  or 
friends  is  styled  "  benevolent  brother,"  in  every  letter  he 


OF  THE  CHURCH  243 

receives  from  them.  Every  magistrate  whose  cruel 
injustice  makes  the  people  tremble  to  approach  him  is 
styled  "  benevolent  excellency  "  by  his  petitioners.  More 
than  this,  you  find  here  and  there  refuges  for  lepers  ; 
foundling  orphanages,  chiefly  for  little  girls  cast  out  by 
their  parents,  boys  being  too  valuable  to  be  thrown  away  ; 
homes  and  almshouses  for  the  aged  and  very  poor ; 
hospitals,  dispensaries  and  burial  societies,  and  I  have 
even  seen  the  rudiments  of  a  lifeboat  system  in  use  on  the 
Yang-tsze.  In  times  of  flood  or  famine  large  contribu- 
tions are  made  in  relief  of  the  needy,  and  the  lines  of 
beggars  exposing  their  often  self-inflicted  sores  and 
clamouring  for  alms  at  the  gates  of  great  cities,  or  at  shop 
doors  in  their  streets,  seem  to  point  to  the  existence  of  a 
good  deal  of  practical  benevolence.  The  list  sounds  well, 
and  no  doubt  a  certain  amount  of  good  is  done  by  these 
institutions,  but  they  are  few  and  inefficient.  They  bear 
an  infinitesimally  small  ratio  to  the  great  masses  of  needy 
sufferers  in  the  Empire,  and  multitudes  must  die  annually 
from  want  and  disease,  helpless  and  forgotten.  The  only 
concern  of  those  who  see  their  need  is  that,  die  where 
they  may  or  can,  they  shall  not  die  at  their  doors.  The 
localised  responsibility  in  cases  of  unexpected  death 
which  is  secured  by  the  Chinese  system  of  local  govern- 
ment, makes  everyone  dread  the  appearance  of  a  sick  or 
dying  beggar  in  his  neighbourhood.  However  helpless 
and  forlorn  he  may  be  while  the  breath  still  lingers  in  his 
body,  his  death  at  the  doors  of  any  household  may  bring 
down  on  them  a  whole  army  of  unknown  and  fictitious 
relatives  eager  to  claim  the  privilege  of  avenging  his  death 
by  claiming  from  those  at  whose  doors  he  is  found, 
pecuniary  compensation  for  his  loss.  If  circumstances 
prevent  a  claim  of  this  kind,  no  one  will  help  him  while 
alive,  nor  bury  him  when  dead,  lest  by  evincing  any  con- 
cern about  him  they  should  be  involved  in  the  expenses 
of  his    burial,   and   possibly  in  a   criminal  charge.     The 


244  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

body  may  lie  exposed  till  perforce  the  magistrates  inter- 
vene, and  remove  it  at  the  least  possible  expense. 

In  the  distribution  of  famine  relief,  as  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  all  other  public  funds,  the  officials,  high  and  low, 
through  whose  hands  it  passes,  are  constantly  guilty  of 
dishonesty  and  maladministration.  No  European  would 
contribute  to  such  funds,  unless  assured  that  the  distribu- 
tion would  be  conducted  by  the  missionaries  or  other 
foreigners,  so  as  to  ensure  the  help  reaching  those  for 
whom  it  is  intended,  and  being  saved  from  the  rapacity 
and  peculations  of  the  mandarins. 

In  regard  to  the  practical  existence  of  the  virtue  of 
benevolence,  I  can  only  instance  further  the  hideous  in- 
genuity which  surrounds  the  whole  judicial  system  with 
an  elaborate  variety  of  brutal  tortures.  Not  only  con- 
demned criminals,  but  prisoners  on  their  trial,  and  wit- 
nesses under  examination,  are  daily  tortured  with  every 
refinement  of  cruelty.  Beating  with  bamboos  on  face, 
feet,  thighs  and  body  ;  hanging  up  by  cords  tied  round 
hands,  feet  or  fingers,  for  long  periods,  while  the  cords  cut 
into  the  flesh,  and  every  joint  is  stretched  as  on  the  rack  ; 
crushing  the  joints  ;  burning,  slicing,  hammering  in  the 
ankle  bones — these  are  only  a  few  items  of  the  ghastly 
list  of  means  used  to  extract  evidence  from  reluctant  wit- 
nesses or  confessions  from  obstinate  offenders.  Strangula- 
tion and  beheading  are  the  two  methods  of  inflicting 
capital  punishment  mercifully,  but  in  many  cases  cruci- 
fixion, gradually  cutting  to  pieces,  burying  alive,  hanging 
up  by  the  chin  in  a  cage  till  the  victim  dies  of  starvation, 
thirst  and  pain,  are  either  prescribed  by  law  or  inflicted  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  magistrate.  While  these  are  the 
brutalities  of  the  regular  machinery  of  the  law,  you  may 
imagine  that  the  people  better  the  instruction  in  their 
private  quarrels  and  in  their  revenges,  which,  in  a  vast 
multitude  of  cases,  anticipate  or  take  the  place  of  legal 
procedure.     The  fruit  of  these  things,  and  of  the  temper 


OF  THE  CHURCH  245 

which  produces  them,  is  seen  everywhere  in  callous  indif- 
ference to  the  sufferings  of  others,  and  in  universal 
brutality  towards  the  lower  animals,  not  to  speak  of  the 
widespread  practice  of  infanticide  of  young  female  children, 
and  the  utter  indifference  with  which  it  is  everywhere 
regarded.  You  will  hardly  be  surprised  to  hear  that  can- 
nibalism is  a  frequent  feature  of  the  orgies  which  follow  on 
victory  in  clan  feuds,  or  that  the  much  vaunted  ancestral 
worship  itself  was  polluted  during  long  periods  of  time  by 
the  burial  with  the  dead  of  living  slaves.  The  first  instance 
of  this  kind  which  is  on  record  in  the  native  books  took 
place  in  ^JJ  B.C.,  when  sixty-six  persons  were  buried  with 
King  Wu  of  Ts'in,  and  the  latest  in  the  end  of  the  four- 
teenth century  ;  but  a  Jesuit  missionary  records  another  in- 
stance as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
thirty  persons  were  thus  put  to  death  at  the  burial  of  one 
of  the  wives  of  the  Emperor  Shun-che  ;  and  between  these 
points  of  time  large  numbers  of  cases  are  on  record,  so 
that  Chinese  history  is  stained  with  these  ghastly  crimes 
for  over  two  thousand  years.  The  incidents  recorded  are 
only  isolated  cases  in  which  notable  families  were  con- 
cerned, but  the  practice  was  undoubtedly  widely  spread, 
and  must  have  prevailed  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Even 
when  it  at  last  died  out,  the  companion  crime  with 
which  it  was  associated  of  encouraging  or  compelling  the 
suicide  of  widows  in  order  to  accompany  their  husbands 
into  the  other  world,  has  continued  down  to  the  present 
time,  and  well-known  instances  are  on  record  within  recent 
times.  These  unhappy  widows  drown,  hang,  strangle,  or 
poison  themselves,  sometimes  in  private  and  sometimes 
with  the  utmost  publicity.  The  most  popular  form  of  this 
custom  is  that  in  which  the  high  local  mandarins  are 
invited  to  be  present.  They  select  the  hour  and  day  for 
the  ceremony,  and  public  announcement  is  made  of  it. 
The  widow  appears  dressed  in  her  finest  clothing,  visits 
her  own   family  and    friends   in  the   neighbourhood,  and 


246  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

feasts  with  them.  She  then  betakes  herself  to  a  decorated 
platform  erected  in  a  public  place,  where  she  receives  the 
compliments  of  the  mandarins,  who  prostrate  themselves 
before  her.  When  these  preliminaries  are  over,  she  hangs 
herself  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  concourse,  which  then 
disperses,  with  universal  congratulations  on  the  glory 
accruing  to  the  family  through  this  performance.  Repre- 
sentations made  through  the  high  officials  to  the  Imperial 
Government  secure  for  the  family  the  further  honour  of 
having  a  great  stone  archway  erected  at  the  expense  of 
the  Government,  either  in  front  of  the  house  or  in  a  neigh- 
bouring street,  with  inscriptions  in  honour  of  the  woman 
who  has  thus  proved  her  devotion. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  now  said,  the 
benevolent  institutions,  whose  existence  one  cannot  deny, 
lose  much  of  their  lustre.  Indeed,  when  one  has  lived 
long  among  the  Chinese,  and  the  widespread  brutality  of 
their  customs  and  character  has  eaten  into  one's  soul,  one 
reads  in  books  and  temples  the  praises  of  benevolence 
with  loathing  and  abhorrence. 

The  righteousness  which  Mencius  associates  with  bene- 
volence is  in  no  better  case.  A  magistrate  in  coming  to 
his  decisions  is  guided  by  many  considerations,  but 
righteousness  hardly  ranks  among  them.  There  must 
be  some  men  who,  in  the  face  of  extreme  difficulty,  try  to 
show  some  regard  to  righteousness  and  justice  ;  but  they 
are  few,  and  the  system  is  too  strong  for  them.  I  once 
spent  twelve  days  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  a 
magistrate's  office  in  connection  with  a  case  of  murder, 
and  saw  for  the  first  time  a  good  deal  of  the  inner  work- 
ing of  the  Chinese  machinery  of  law,  and  I  have  often  had 
occasion  to  see  something  of  it  since.'  One  is  not  so 
much  struck  by  signal  instances  of  departure  from 
righteous  judgment.  What  impresses  one  is  that  among 
all  classes  of  those  connected  with  the  administration  of 
the  law  it  is  assumed  as  a  universal   maxim  that  the  last 


OF  THE  CHURCH  247 

consideration  to  weigh  in  any  case  is  that  of  right  and 
wrong.  Money  moves  all  the  springs  of  action.  Some 
magistrates  are  more  greedy  and  some  more  ferocious 
than  others,  but  everyone  assumes  that  the  probabilities 
of  gain  or  some  other  out  of  the  long  list  of  corrupt 
motives  will  determine  the  result,  and  not  the  rights  of  the 
case  itself. 

Again,  in  the  Chinese  books  there  are  continual  praises 
of  the  virtue  of  sincerity.  Confucius  said  on  one 
occasion,  "  I  do  not  know  how  a  man  without  truthfulness 
is  to  get  on.  How  can  a  large  carriage  be  made  to  go 
without  the  crossbar  for  yoking  the  oxen  to  ?  "  Mencius 
said,  "  Sincerity  is  the  way  of  heaven,  and  to  aim  at 
sincerity  is  the  way  of  man.  Never  was  there  one 
possessed  of  complete  sincerity  who  did  not  move  others  ; 
never  was  there  one  without  sincerity  who  yet  was  able  to 
move  others."  From  Confucian  scholars  I  have  often 
heard  loud  praises  of  the  virtue  of  sincerity  ;  but  the  effect 
of  their  laudations  is  painful  when  coming,  as  it  does, 
from  men  who  themselves  are  almost  universally  steeped 
to  the  lips  in  falsehood.  In  this  they  are  neither  better 
nor  worse  than  the  bulk  of  their  fellow-countrymen.  We 
not  only  belong  to  a  Christian  people  ;  we  have  also  the 
advantage  of  descent,  for  the  most  part,  from  the  old 
Teutonic  stock,  one  of  whose  signal  virtues,  even  in  the 
time  of  their  barbarism,  was  a  regard  for  truth.  It  is 
difficult  for  us,  therefore,  to  measure  or  believe  in  the 
universality  of  falsehood  among  non-Christian  Oriental 
races.  We  can  understand  a  man  who  under  pressure 
tells  a  lie  to  save  himself  from  the  unpleasant  con- 
sequences of  his  faults  ;  but  the  Chinaman  does  not  lie 
in  this  occasional  manner,  nor  under  any  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstance. He  lies  habitually,  constantly,  and  without 
cause.  No  doubt  it  is  often  convenient — he  would  say 
necessary — to  lie  ;  but  his  lies  are  numerous  far  beyond 
the  bounds  of  either  convenience  or  necessity.     Trying, 


248  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

for  my  own  satisfaction,  to  answer  the  question  why  men 
should  lie  without  any  apparent  reason  for  it,  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  do  so  partly  for  practice  and 
partly  on  general  principles.  It  is  always  assumed  that 
it  might  conceivably  become  inconvenient  to  have  put  you 
in  possession  of  the  truth,  and  rather  than  risk  this 
inconvenience,  even  when  still  at  a  shadowy  distance,  they 
will  tell  you  what  is  false.  Social  intercourse  is  looked 
upon  as  a  game  of  cards.  To  tell  the  truth  is  to  lay  all 
your  cards  openly  on  the  table,  whereas  to  tell  falsehoods 
consistently  and  always  is  to  keep  the  command  of  the 
situation  in  your  own  hands.  If  a  man  tells  you  a 
falsehood  in  the  first  instance,  he  always  has  the  truth  to 
fall  back  upon  in  case  of  need  ;  whereas  if  he  tells  you  the 
truth  at  first,  there  is  nothing  left  behind.  Whence  one 
constantly  notices  that  when  conducting  any  business  with 
the  assistance  of  Chinese  friends  they  and  we  generally 
draw  different  conclusions  from  what  is  said  by  those  with 
whom  we  are  dealing.  At  least  we  do  so  till  long 
experience  gives  us  practice  in  grasping  the  Chinese  point 
of  view.  When  a  Chinaman  has  been  talking  with 
another,  especially  on  matters  of  any  intricacy,  he  never 
bases  his  conclusions  directly  upon  what  the  other  has 
said.  He  rather  takes  the  words  of  the  other  as  raw 
material  out  of  which  he  may,  by  thinking  back,  extract 
what  may  be  supposed  to  be  the  reality,  not  which  the 
other  expressed,  but  which  he  was  endeavouring  to 
conceal.  Thus  the  practical  outcome  of  a  Chinese 
conversation  is  usually  something  very  different  from  the 
algebraic  sum  of  the  things  which  have  been  said  during 
its  course. 

Another  of  the  favourite  Chinese  virtues  is  filial  piety. 
This  is  lauded  in  the  ancient  books  and  in  modern  public 
opinion  as  the  foundation  of  all  virtues.  "  Filial  piety," 
said  an  early  disciple  of  Confucius,  "  and  fraternal  sub- 
mission— are  they  not  the  root  of  all  benevolent  actions  ?  " 


OF  THE  CHURCH  249 

There  is  a  saying,  "  Of  all  the  virtues  filial  conduct  is  the 
chief."  This  conception  of  filial  piety  as  the  root  of 
virtues  is  closely  connected  with  the  patriarchal  system  on 
which  society  is  built,  and  with  the  ancestral  worship 
which  is  its  apotheosis.  I  have  already  pointed  out  in 
another  connection  that  the  demand  for  filial  piety  is  not 
associated  with  any  corresponding  conception  of  parental 
duty  towards  children.  The  interpretation  of  the  idea  is 
widened  by  including  in  it  the  idea  of  loyalty  to  the 
sovereign  and  of  obedience  to  magistrates  ;  the  sovereign 
and  the  magistrate,  each  in  his  sphere,  being  regarded  as 
the  father  of  his  people.  A  popular  book  for  the  young 
consists  of  twenty-four  conspicuous  incidents  of  filial 
piety,  and  some  of  its  manifestations  are  extravagant 
enough  ;  but  alongside  of  this  high  conception  the  actual 
practice  of  filial  piety  is  little  known. 

Incidents  continually  come  to  light,  and  find  a  place  of 
honour  in  the  Imperial  Gazette,  of  sons  or  daughters- 
in-law  who  acquire  a  high  reputation  for  filial  piety 
by  cutting  off  portions  of  their  own  flesh  as  food  or 
medicine  for  aged  or  sick  parents.  In  these  cases 
rewards  are  bestowed  on  the  chief  actors  by  the  Emperor 
himself 

Filial  piety,  as  practised,  also  requires  the  use  of 
obsequious  phrases  in  letters  to  parents  or  other  elders  of 
the  family,  and  demands  ceremonious  bowings  and 
prostrations  on  important  family  occasions.  Prolonged 
mourning,  with  every  outward  expression  of  woe,  is  also 
strictly  required  ;  and  a  son,  even  after  he  has  grown  up 
and  has  children,  or  perhaps  grandchildren,  of  his  own,  is 
by  law  under  the  absolute  control  of  his  father,  even  in  the 
matter  of  life  and  death,  as  long  as  the  father  lives. 
Where  a  son,  by  gambling  or  other  vices,  has  disgraced 
or  impoverished  his  family,  it  happens  not  unfrequently 
that  the  father,  with  the  assistance  of  his  friends, 
deliberately  puts  his  son  to  death,  sometimes  by  burying 


250  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CHURCH 

alive.  In  such  cases  the  law  cannot  interfere  with  the 
father's  prerogative. 

There  are  families,  usually  of  the  wealthier  class,  in 
which  the  patriarchal  tradition  is  kept  up  in  its  healthier 
forms  with  happy  results.  But  these  are  not  common, 
and  one  seldom  sees  non-Christian  children  who  have 
been  taught  to  obey.  Disobedience  is  the  consistent  rule, 
and  obedience  the  rare  exception. 

The  question  of  social  morality  in  the  narrower  sense 
opens  a  dark  region  on  which  I  will  not  enter.  Chinese 
etiquette  tries  to  maintain  a  specious  and  mechanical 
appearance  of  propriety.  But  the  reality  is  very  different, 
and  shows  itself  in  the  whole  temper  and  language  of  the 
people.  Its  results  appear  in  our  hospital  practice,  and 
even  invade  the  young  churches  in  the  cases  of  discipline 
which,  to  our  sorrow,  come  before  us.  There  is  no  need 
in  Chinese,  as  in  English,  to  borrow  from  forgotten  cities 
of  antiquity  names  for  the  darker  forms  of  vice.  The 
language  is  amply  provided  with  phrases  of  native  growth, 
and  in  daily  use  by  young  and  old,  to  describe  them  all. 
"  It  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  the  things  which  are  done 
by  them  in  secret "  ;  but  it  is  a  shame  which  is  hardly  felt 
by  the  Chinese  themselves. 

Such,  then,  are  a  few  glimpses  of  the  background  which 
must  be  kept  in  view  if  we  would  estimate  intelligently 
and  justly  the  character  and  attainments  of  the  Christian 
converts  in  China. 


LECTURE  X 

GROWTH   AND   CHARACTER    OF    THE  CHURCH 
Part  II. —  Christian  Character  in  the  Chinese  Church 

It  is  a  dreary  task  to  go  through  the  list  of  virtues 
extolled  in  Chinese  books,  and  to  show  how  little  they  are 
found  realised  in  the  life  of  Chinese  people.  One  might 
multiply  incidents,  but  they  would  not  greatly  alter  the 
impression  which  those  of  which  I  have  spoken  create  in 
our  minds. 

Such,  then,  is  the  background  against  which  the  life  and 
character  of  our  Christian  people  is  to  be  viewed.  It  is 
not  fair  and  reasonable  to  ask  whether  they  have  that 
refinement  and  maturity  of  the  Christian  graces  which  has 
been  slowly  reached  in  our  own  country  during  the  cen- 
turies which  have  passed  since  the  first  missionaries 
landed  on  our  shores.  But  do  the  Chinese  Christians 
stand  out  as  a  class  distinct  from  their  fellow-countrymen, 
not  only  in  their  moral  ideas,  but  in  actual  character  and 
life  ?  When  the  question  is  put  in  this  form,  which  is  the 
only  fair  one,  it  is  easily  answered  ;  and  how  confident  we 
are  that  our  answer  is  the  right  one  you  may  gather  from 
the  fact  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  that  in  our 
Evangelistic  preaching  we  do  not  hesitate  to  appeal  in  the 
presence  of  our  non-Christian  audiences  to  the  lives  of  the 
Christians  within  their  own  knowledge  as  confirmation  of 
the  Gospel  which  we  preach.  I  am  not  able  to  accept  the 
statement  one  sometimes  reads  that  one  could  pick  out 
the  Christians  in  any  crowd  by  the  altered  expression  and 
refinement  of  their  faces.      The  assertion  is  sometimes  due 

251 


252  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

more  to  the  sanguine  temperament  of  those  who  say  so 
than  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  One  cannot  expect  people 
who  for  a  life-time  have  lived  a  hard  and  narrow  life 
warped  and  darkened  by  heathenism,  as  soon  as  their 
Christian  career  has  begun  to  carry  about  with  them  in 
their  very  features  the  reflection  of  a  higher  faith,  and  the 
manifestation  of  a  heavenly  joy.  Anyone  who  considers 
will  see  how  impossible  will  be  the  application  of  such  a 
test  amongst  our  own  people.  Christians  and  those  who 
are  not  Christians  rub  shoulders  in  our  streets  and  even  in 
our  churches,  and  it  would  require  more  than  human 
insight  to  tell  which  is  which.  Are  there  no  Christians 
among  ourselves  whose  looks  belie  them  ?  Without  press- 
ing too  far  the  maxim  which  Mr  Morley  has  repeatedly 
quoted  from  Helvetius,  "If  you  would  love  mankind 
you  should  not  expect  too  much  from  them,"  we  should 
at  least  try  Christian  converts  from  heathenism  as  we 
should  try  Christians  at  home,  by  reasonable  standards. 
When  that  is  done,  the  challenge  thrown  out  in  the 
Apology  of  Athenagoras  is  apt  and  sound,  and  by  it  the 
Christian  Church  in  China  could  stand.  "  For  who  of 
those  that  reduce  syllogisms,  and  clear  up  ambiguities, 
and  explain  etymologies,  or  of  those  who  teach  homonyms 
and  synonyms,  and  predicaments  and  axioms — who  of 
them  have  so  purged  their  souls  as,  instead  of  hating  their 
enemies,  to  love  them  ;  and,  instead  of  speaking  ill  of 
those  who  have  reviled  them,  to  bless  them,  and  to  pray 
for  those  who  plot  against  their  lives  ? 

"  But  among  us  you  will  find  uneducated  persons,  and 
artisans,  and  old  women,  who,  if  they  are  unable  in  words 
to  prove  the  benefit  of  our  doctrine,  yet  by  their  deeds 
exhibit  the  benefit  arising  from  their  persuasion  of  its 
truth.  They  do  not  rehearse  speeches,  but  exhibit  good 
works ;  when  struck,  they  do  not  strike  again  ;  when 
robbed,  they  do  not  go  to  law;  they  give  to  those  that 
ask  of  them,  and   love  their  neighbours  as  themselves." 


OF  THE  CHURCH  253 

If  this  challenge  were  issued  in  our  own  time  to  thought- 
ful non-Christian  Chinese  in  places  where  there  is  a  con- 
siderable Christian  community  they  would,  I  believe,  in 
many  instances  testify  to  its  justice.  This  opinion  is 
confirmed  by  a  thoughtful  merchant  in  the  East,  who, 
though  a  severe  critic  of  missions  and  missionary  methods, 
yet  criticises  in  a  just  and  friendly  spirit.  He  says,  con- 
cerning the  quality  of  the  Chinese  Christian  converts, 
"  Few  as  they  may  be  when  all  told,  and  mixed  as  they 
must  be  with  spurious  professors,  it  is  a  gratifying  fact 
which  cannot  be  gainsaid,  that  Christians  of  the  truest 
type,  men  ready  to  become  martyrs,  which  is  easy,  and  to 
lead  helpful  and  honest  lives,  which  is  as  hard  as  the 
ascent  from  Avernus,  crown  the  labours  of  the  missionaries, 
and  have  done  so  from  the  very  beginning.  It  is  thus 
shown  that  the  Christian  religion  is  not  essentially  un- 
adapted  to  China,  and  that  the  Chinese  character  is 
susceptible  to  its  regenerating  power." 

In  regard  to  practical  benevolence,  unselfish  kindness, 
and  purity  of  morals  in  all  departments,  the  Christians  are 
undoubtedly  far  ahead  of  the  mass  of  their  fellow-country- 
men. I  have  spoken  of  their  contributions  for  religious 
purposes  amounting  in  our  Swatow  Church  to  three  and  a 
quarter  dollars  per  member  per  annum,  which,  as  I  pointed 
out,  is  for  them  the  equivalent  of  an  annual  contribution 
of  about  £1,  5  s.  from  the  average  working  people  of  our 
own  churches.  Besides  these  regular  contributions,  they 
give  frequently  for  special  cases  of  need.  When  famines 
have  occurred  in  other  parts  of  China,  our  churches  have 
sent  contributions  in  aid  of  the  sufferers.  When  in- 
dividual cases  of  destitution  come  to  light  in  their  own 
neighbourhoods,  the  Christians  are  always  forward  in 
giving  relief  I  am  afraid  that  we  have  too  little  en- 
couraged this  form  of  Christian  charity  in  our  native 
Church,  from  the  fear  of  attracting  to  us  too  many  of  the 
needy,  and  perhaps  of  the  idle,  in  the  hope  of  securing 


254  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

support.  Not  infrequently  in  times  of  persecution  in  our 
native  Church  the  sufferers  have  been  thrown  to  a  large 
extent  on  the  help  of  their  fellow-Christians  for  support 
during  considerable  periods  of  time.  In  this  case  there 
is  always  a  warm  feeling  of  sympathy  with  those  who 
suffer  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  and  great  readiness  to  give 
generously  for  their  sustenance.  Whole  families  have 
been  at  times  driven  from  their  homes  when  the  Gospel 
has  made  its  first  entrance  to  a  village.  Sometimes 
Christians  have  been  boycotted,  and  put  to  great  difficulty 
in  the  gathering  in  of  their  harvests,  and  to  the  discom- 
fiture of  their  enemies  the  difficulty  has  been  speedily 
overcome  by  the  ready  help  of  their  fellow-Christians. 
An  old  man's  house  was  torn  down  in  one  of  these  local 
outbreaks  of  persecution,  and  he  was  taunted  with  the 
remark,  "  You  see  how  your  God  takes  care  of  you." 
But  the  taunt  lost  its  point  when,  shortly  after,  numbers  of 
Christians  were  seen  gathering  from  all  quarters  bringing 
bricks  and  lime,  and  together  rebuilding  his  house  with 
their  own  hands,  and  leaving  him  better  housed  than 
before.  "  Now,"  he  said  to  his  friends,  "  you  see  how  my 
God  takes  care  of  me."  A  Christian  man  in  one  of  our 
country  congregations  was  attacked  by  a  severe  illness 
which  confined  him  to  his  bed  for  a  length  of  time.  He 
was  poor  and  dependent  on  his  own  exertions  for  his 
living.  His  wife  had  been  from  the  first  a  bitter  opponent 
of  the  Gospel,  and  was  very  indignant  at  her  husband 
professing  Christianity.  His  illness  seemed  to  her,  as  it 
often  does  to  the  heathen  in  such  cases,  a  just  retribution 
sent  by  the  offended  gods  for  his  infidelity  to  them.  But 
during  his  illness  his  Christian  friends  frequently  called  to 
visit  him,  and  on  leaving,  with  unostentatious  kindliness, 
left  about  his  bed  small  sums  of  money.  His  wife  began 
to  see  that  Christianity  was  something  more  real  than  she 
had  supposed  ;  her  bitter  hostility  was  broken  down,  and 
she  herself  became  a  Christian. 


OF  THE  CHURCH  255 

Our  principal  hospital  assistant  at  Swatow  had  for  over 
twenty  years  given  his  time  and  labour  unsparingly  to 
the  work  of  the  Church,  both  in  the  hospital  and  in  other 
departments.  His  eyesight  became  impaired,  and  feeling 
physically  unequal  to  the  demands  of  his  work,  he  re- 
signed his  post  and  retired  to  his  home  about  two  years 
ago.  Recently  we  asked  him  to  undertake  the  post  of 
preacher  at  one  of  our  stations.  Without  even  asking 
what  salary  we  proposed  to  offer  him,  he  at  once  con- 
sented, and  has  cheerfully  taken  up  his  new  duties.  A 
native  Christian,  on  hearing  of  his  decision,  exclaimed 
with  emphasis,  "  Well,  that  man  has  the  mind  of  the 
Lord !  "  On  inquiry,  I  found  that  a  good  medical 
practice  had  gathered  round  him  at  his  home.  He  was 
greatly  trusted,  because  it  was  remarked  that  he  gave 
time  and  pains  to  his  poorer  patients  as  well  as  to  the 
rich,  often  refusing  to  receive  any  fee  from  the  poor.  It 
is  said  that  this  practice,  which  was  rapidly  growing, 
brought  him  in  last  year  more  than  five  hundred  dollars  ; 
and  he  cheerfully  gave  it  up  to  become  a  preacher  on 
a  salary  of  little  over  one  hundred,  the  same  that  he  had 
had  before  as  hospital  assistant. 

We  have  had  many  instances  where  the  feeling  and 
conduct  of  the  Christians  towards  each  other,  as  well  as 
towards  those  outside  the  Christian  community,  has  made 
a  deep  impression.  One  of  the  Christian  women  was  at 
first  bitterly  opposed  by  her  husband.  He  drove  her 
from  her  home,  threatened  to  take  her  life,  and  pursued 
her  on  one  occasion  with  a  knife,  till  she  took  refuge  in 
the  house  of  a  married  daughter.  She  supported  herself 
by  going  about  the  villages  selling  native  cloth  to  the 
women,  and  maintained  so  consistent  a  Christian  pro- 
fession that  no  fault  could  be  found  with  her.  When 
opportunity  occurred,  she  sent  kindly  messages  to  her 
husband,  and  when  a  general  conference  of  the  Christians 
was  held,  she  sent  him  a  pair  of  new  shoes  and  invited 


256  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

him  to  come  and  see  and  hear  for  himself.  Her  patience 
and  gentleness  at  last  overcame  his  hostility.  She  had 
long  been  praying  for  him,  and  felt  sure  that  he  would  be 
brought  in.  At  length,  to  her  great  joy,  he  began  to 
come  to  worship  and  applied  for  baptism.  She  was  then 
able  to  return  home,  and  she  stood  bravely  by  her  husband 
when  the  persecution  of  the  village  was  in  turn  directed 
against  him.  He  then  fled  to  the  chapel  in  the  neighbour- 
hood for  refuge,  and  she  remained  in  the  village  to  bear 
the  brunt  of  the  opposition.  She  was  not  allowed  to 
draw  water  from  the  village  well.  None  would  sell  rice 
or  any  food  to  her  ;  none  would  speak  to  her.  Her  own 
daughter,  when  she  heard  that  her  parents  had  burned 
the  family  idols,  cast  them  off  and  would  not  acknowledge 
them  as  her  parents.  But  one  woman  in  the  village 
interceded  for  her  with  the  villagers.  "  What  do  you 
persecute  the  woman  for  ?  "  she  said.  "  She  has  done  you 
no  harm.  If  she  has  burned  her  idols,  were  they  not 
her  own  to  do  as  she  pleased  with  ?  You  are  persecuting 
her  in  every  way  you  can  think  of,  and  yet  you  see  she 
looks  happy,  and  she  does  not  hate  you  nor  curse  you. 
How  is  this  ?  "  The  woman  herself  testified  that  during 
this  time  of  trial  she  was  never  cast  down.  "  The  Lord," 
she  said,  "  never  left  us,  not  for  an  hour,  else  how  would 
not  these  people  have  destroyed  us  altogether  ?  "  "  We 
were  being  persecuted  and  hated,  and  yet  in  my  heart 
there  was  great  peace  ;  and  although  my  fellow-villagers 
would  not  speak  to  me  nor  listen  to  my  words,  the  people 
of  the  neighbouring  villages  were  glad  to  hear  me  and 
glad  to  know  how  it  was  I  was  able  to  bear  all  this 
trouble,  and  so  I  was  able  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  many 
of  them."  Her  own  son  took  an  active  part  in  the  perse- 
cution of  his^parents,  but  he  too  was  won  at  length. 

For  many  years  his  mother  has  lived  a  most  consistent 
and  happy  Christian  life,  one  of  the  most  eager  and 
responsive  hearers  in  the   congregation,  and  one  of  the 


OF  THE  CHURCH  257 

most  active  in  testifying  to  others.  Besides  her  husband 
and  son,  her  mother,  her  younger  brother,  and  two  sisters, 
were  brought  to  Christ  through  her  influence.  She  was 
afterwards  the  means  of  bringing  in  many  more.  When 
she  was  over  fifty  years  of  age  she  learned,  to  her  great 
delight,  to  read  and  write.  One  use  to  which  she  put  her 
ability  to  write  was  the  drawing  up  of  a  list  of  persons 
whom  she  believed  she  had  been  enabled}  to  bring  to  the 
Saviour,  that  she  might  keep  them  before  her  for  prayer  on 
their  behalf.  On  one  occasion  when  we  were  leaving  China 
she  brought  a  copy  of  this  list  to  my  wife,  asking  that 
we  would  join  her  in  prayer  for  those  whose  names  were 
contained  in  it.  At  that  time  the  list  contained  upwards 
of  seventy  names,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  have 
been  added  to  it  since.  She  first  received  the  Gospel 
while  in  our  hospital,  to  which  she  had  come  for  treat- 
ment, and  she  testifies  that  she  believed  the  first  time  she 
heard,  being  exceedingly  rejoiced  to  know  that  her  sins 
could  be  forgiven.  She  had  a  singular  gift  in  speaking 
to  the  women,  having  an  especially  happy  use  of  illustra- 
tions, but  her  bright  and  kindly  manner  was  perhaps  the 
chief  secret  of  her  power. 

We  have  continual  testimonies  from  those  who  come 
to  us  as  applicants  for  baptism  that  they  have  been 
influenced  more  by  what  they  have  known  of  the  life  of 
Christian  neighbours  and  friends  than  by  hearing  public 
preaching,  and  we  have  many  instances  in  which,  after 
one  member  of  a  family  has  been  brought  in,  the  others 
have  been  gathered  one  by  one  by  the  consistent  example 
daily  set  before  them.  An  old  woman  whom  I  examined 
lately  as  an  applicant  for  baptism,  said  that  she  was  in- 
fluenced by  the  example  of  her  son.  She  testified  that  since 
he  became  a  Christian  he  was  a  different  man  from  what 
he  had  been  before.  A  young  girl  had  been  betrothed 
to  a  Christian,  but  his  early  death  led  her  grandmother, 
under  whose  care  she  was,  to  betroth   her  into  a  non- 

R 


258  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

Christian  family,  the  inducement  being  the  hope  of  re- 
ceiving a  much  larger  amount  of  betrothal  money.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  induce  the  old  woman  to  break  off 
the  arrangement,  and  marry  her  grand-daughter  into  a 
Christian  family.  A  Chinese  home,  constructed  on  the 
patriarchal  system,  with  several  generations  living  in  the 
same  house,  is  a  sphere  in  which  it  is  extremely  difficult 
for  one  individual,  and  especially  for  a  young  girl,  who 
enters  the  family  as  an  entire  stranger,  to  take  an  in- 
dependent course,  and  to  make  alone  the  Christian  pro- 
fession. So  difficult  is  it  that  a  native  elder  once 
proposed  in  presbytery  that  any  Christian  parent  be- 
trothing her  daughter  into  a  non-Christian  family  should 
be  severely  dealt  with  by  way  of  discipline,  giving  as 
his  reason  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  a  girl  in 
such  a  case  to  be  a  Christian.  Notwithstanding  all  the 
efforts  that  were  made,  the  marriage  in  this  case  was 
carried  out  ;  but  instead  of  losing,  as  we  had  feared,  her 
own  Christian  life,  the  girl  has  been  enabled  not  only 
to  maintain  it,  but  to  influence  the  whole  family.  Several 
members  of  it  have  become  Christians  ;  their  influence 
has  told  upon  their  neighbours,  and  the  result  has  been 
the  planting  of  a  new  church  in  their  village.  In  another 
similar  case  a  girl  who  was  married  to  a  heathen  husband 
was  the  means  of  his  conversion,  and  they  are  unitedly 
living  the  Christian  life. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  utter  lack  of  truthfulness  among 
the  non-Christian  Chinese,  and  you  can  easily  understand 
that  the  habit  of  falsehood  is  not  easily  thrown  off  by 
those  who  make  the  Christian  profession,  even  when  their 
life  in  other  respects  shows  that  the  profession  is  a  genuine 
one.  But  even  in  this  matter  there  is  an  enormous 
difference  between  the  practice  of  the  Christians  and  that 
of  their  fellow-countrymen.  I  cannot  say  that  the 
Christians  always,  or  perhaps  even  generally,  become 
absolutely   and   fully   truthful ;    but  there  are  not  a  few 


OF  THE  CHURCH  259 

among  them  whose  word  can  be  absolutely  relied  upon. 
A  man  who  as  a  boy  entered  the  service  of  one  of  our 
senior  missionaries,  and  was  with  him  as  servant  for  many 
years,  was  one  of  the  most  faithful  and  conscientious 
members  of  our  native  Church.  He  was  chosen  and 
ordained  to  the  office  of  the  eldership,  and  discharged  it 
with  the  utmost  faithfulness  and  to  the  great  advantage  of 
all  who  came  within  the  reach  of  his  influence.  He  was 
consulted  both  by  the  missionaries  and  by  the  native 
Christians  in  all  matters  of  difficulty,  and  his  advice  and 
opinion  always  carried,  and  justly  carried,  the  utmost 
weight.  He  had  been  naturally  a  man  of  a  somewhat 
proud  disposition  and  a  hot  temper ;  but  as  a  Christian 
these  natural  features  of  character  were  curiously  blended 
with  a  very  real  and  almost  extreme  modesty,  and  with 
admirable  self-restraint,  which  gave  double  weight  to  his 
words.  When  occasion  called  for  it  he  could  rebuke 
wrong-doers  with  the  utmost  plainness,  and  sometimes,  we 
felt,  with  an  almost  unnecessary  severity  ;  but  it  was  done 
with  such  transparent  honesty  of  purpose,  and  such  a  real 
desire  for  the  good  of  those  with  whom  he  was  dealing, 
that  his  faithfulness  seldom,  if  ever,  gave  offence.  One 
who  knew  him  well  would  never  dream  of  doubting  his 
word  upon  any  question  of  fact.  Still,  in  him,  and  in 
others  like  him,  there  was  a  curious  survival  of  old  habits, 
which  sometimes  one  felt  to  be  hardly  consistent  with  our 
conception  of  absolute  truthfulness.  What  I  mean  is  this. 
He  would  never  say  anything  which  was  untrue  ;  but  he 
would  sometimes  refrain  from  telling  us  the  whole  truth 
in  a  way  which  sometimes  seemed  to  us  blameworthy. 
So  far  as  the  Chinese  have  any  conception  of  the  wrong 
of  speaking  untruthfully,  it  generally  takes  this  form,  that 
an  untruth  told  to  the  injury  of  another  is  considered  to 
be  deserving  of  condemnation  ;  but  it  is  a  very  prevalent 
opinion  that  an  untruth  told  to  shield  or  help  another  is 
either  wholly  justifiable  or  at  least  very  excusable.      The 


26o  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

elder  to  whom  I  have  referred  had  quite  overcome,  I 
believe,  the  temptation  to  this  kind  of  dishonesty  ;  but 
Chinese  opinion  in  general  condemns  strongly  the  frank 
telling  of  the  truth  in  cases  where  it  will  have  the  effect  of 
injuring  a  man  with  his  employer.  This  is  called 
"  upsetting  a  man's  rice-bowl,"  and  is  generally  considered 
even  more  worthy  of  disapprobation  than  telling  an 
untruth  to  shelter  him  would  be.  One  need  not  there- 
fore be  much  surprised  that  the  elder  of  whom  I  have 
spoken,  like  others  whose  positive  statements  could  also 
be  accepted  in  any  case  without  reserve,  yet  reconciled  it 
to  his  conscience  to  keep  silent  as  to  the  faults  of  others, 
and  especially  of  preachers  or  other  persons  in  our 
employment,  when  it  appeared  to  us  that  he  ought  to 
have  spoken  out.  A  direct  question  in  such  a  case  would 
at  any  time  have  elicited  the  truth  ;  but  the  old  habit 
survived  in  the  form  of  a  readiness  to  conceal  long  after 
the  temptation  to  distort  or  falsify  had  been  wholly  over- 
come. But  we  must  recognise  that  even  in  such  cases  an 
enormous  advance  has  been  made,  and  the  degree  of 
truthfulness  attained  may  be  even  more  significant  of 
victory  through  the  help  of  God's  grace  and  spirit  over 
habits  of  evil  than  our  own  habitual  truthfulness  itself 

I  remember  one  of  the  boys  in  our  higher  school 
coming  to  see  me,  with  an  explanation  to  make  which 
cost  him  not  a  little  embarrassment  and  distress.  He  had 
been  admitted  in  ordinary  course  to  the  school  a  year  or 
two  before,  and  his  age  had  been  stated  by  his  father  at 
fifteen,  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  for  admission  ; 
but  the  boy  came  now,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  to  tell  me  that 
at  the  time  his  father  said  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was 
really  only  fourteen,  and  properly  ineligible  for  admission 
to  the  school.  He  himself  had  not  taken  part  in  this 
misrepresentation,  but  felt  that  by  his  silence  he  had 
become  a  party  to  it.  The  matter  had  weighed  upon  his 
conscience  so  heavily  that  he  felt  bound  to  come  and  tell 


OF  THE  CHURCH  261 

me  the  real  state  of  the  case,  and  he  did  so  although  he 
evidently  anticipated  that  the  result  would  probably  be 
his  dismission  from  the  school.  It  seemed  to  me  to 
indicate  the  working  of  conscience,  which  was  not  a  little 
remarkable  in  a  Chinese  boy  who  had  only  recently 
become  a  professing  Christian  ;  and  I  felt  justified  in 
assuring  him  that  while  I  appreciated  the  sensitiveness 
which  had  caused  him  to  make  the  confession,  I  could 
not  regard  him  as  responsible  for  his  father's  falsehood. 

Another  Christian  lad  entered  my  service  some  eighteen 
years  ago,  and  during  all  that  time  has  been  a  most  trust- 
worthy and  useful  servant.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
has  acted  as  cook  in  the  household,  and  made  our  daily 
purchases  in  the  native  market.  He  keeps  his  accounts 
with  the  utmost  accuracy  and  care,  and  although  small 
peculations  are  universally  considered  as  only  the  natural 
and  proper  perquisites  of  Chinese  servants,  he  has  not 
only  never  attempted  to  make  unjust  gains,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  continually  made  suggestions  and  given  us 
information  which  he  could  easily  have  withheld,  with  a 
view  to  our  interests  being  secured  in  the  most  economical 
possible  way.  Such  things  as  these  and  many  others 
which  I  can  recall  indicate,  in  a  country  like  China,  a  very 
real  working  of  the  Christian  spirit  against  one  of  the  most 
widespread  and  characteristic  of  Oriental  vices. 

In  regard  to  another  of  the  very  prevalent  sins  of  the 
tongue  among  the  non-Christian  Chinese,  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  the  rapid  advance  made  by  the 
Christians  is  very  remarkable  indeed.  I  refer  to  the 
continual  use  by  old  and  young  of  foul  and  shameful 
language.  This  is  so  absolutely  universal,  so  habitual, 
and  so  utterly  shameless,  that  I  have  often  marvelled  at 
the  completeness  with  which  the  Christian  Chinese  over- 
come the  habit.  This  is  often  illustrated  in  our  country 
journeys,  when  we  employ  chair-bearers,  boatmen,  or 
porters  who  are  not  Christians,  and  employ  perhaps  along 


262  GRO  WTH  AND  CHARA  CTER 

with  them  some  who  are.  Travelling  together  day  after 
day,  often  in  circumstances  of  difficulty  and  discomfort, 
one  is  painfully  struck  by  the  use  of  such  language  on  the 
most  trifling  occasions  by  those  who  are  not  Christians  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  one  may  travel  for  weeks  to- 
gether, observing  continually  the  language  and  conduct  of 
the  Christian  men  amongst  them,  without  ever  hearing  a 
single  word  which  one  could  regret.  This  seems  to  me  to 
be  an  attainment  which  it  is  impossible  to  attribute  to  any- 
thing less  than  a  genuine  work  of  the  spirit  of  purity  in 
the  hearts  of  these  men.  How  remarkable  it  is  was 
illustrated  some  time  ago  in  the  experience  of  a  woman 
whom  I  examined  as  an  applicant  for  baptism.  I  asked 
her  what  had  first  drawn  her  attention  to  Christian  truth 
and  led  her  to  become  a  worshipper.  She  had  been  a 
vegetarian  Buddhist,  one  of  a  class  with  whom  we 
occasionally  meet,  who  seem  to  have  some  real  earnest- 
ness of  spirit,  and  some  desire  for  what  is  good.  She 
told  me  that  she  had  noticed  some  little  children  who 
daily  passed  her  door  on  their  way  to  school.  They 
were  the  children  of  a  Christian  family  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  as  they  passed  along  the  streets  they 
were  often  laughed  at  and  reviled  for  being  Christians. 
What  attracted  her  attention  and  caused  her  great  sur- 
prise was  that  these  little  children  received  all  this  abuse 
in  a  quiet  and  gentle  way,  and  never  thought  of  returning 
it  with  foul  and  rude  language,  as  all  other  Chinese 
children  of  whom  she  had  had  any  experience  would  cer- 
tainly have  done.  Attracted  by  this  strange  phenomenon, 
she  followed  them  to  their  home  and  asked  their  mother 
what  the  explanation  of  it  was,  and  how  she  was  able  to 
train  her  children  to  behave  so  well.  She  there  received 
her  first  knowledge  of  Christian  truth  ;  became  a  regular 
attendant  at  the  chapel  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  by  the 
time  I  made  her  acquaintance  had  become  an  intelligent 
and  active  Christian,  and  on  the  testimony  of  all  those 


OF  THE  CHURCH  263 

who  knew  her,  I  had  the  utmost  satisfaction  in  admitting 
her  to  baptism.  Since  her  baptism  she  has  not  only- 
maintained  a  consistent  Christian  profession,  but  has  made 
herself  most  useful  in  visiting  non-Christian  families  of  her 
acquaintance  in  the  large  city  where  she  lives,  and  has 
brought  not  a  few  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel. 

The  reference  I  have  just  made  to  our  country  journeys 
suggests  to  me  an  instance  which  has  often  impressed  me 
of  the  very  manifest  exercise  of  another  Christian  grace. 
A  man  who  was  for  many  years  one  of  our  most  useful 
preachers  was  lately  ordained  as  minister  of  the  native 
congregation  in  Swatow.  He  has  often  accompanied  me 
on  long  country  journeys,  sometimes  in  districts  where  we 
had  no  mission  station,  and  had  to  put  up  with  whatever 
accommodation  was  to  be  had  in  native  inns.  In  these 
circumstances  one's  comfort  depends  largely  upon  the 
temper  and  patience  of  one's  companions,  and  I  was  led 
to  estimate  this  preacher  very  highly  for  this  feature  of 
his  character,  in  addition  to  many  other  good  qualities, 
that  I  never  saw  in  him  in  such  circumstances  the  slightest 
taint  of  selfishness.  His  own  ease  or  comfort  was  never 
a  consideration  with  him.  He  was  always  ready,  with  a 
cheerfulness  and  geniality  which  won  the  hearts  of  the 
least  friendly,  to  do  his  utmost,  whether  in  preaching  to  the 
heathen  with  whom  we  met,  or  in  dealing  with  Christians 
or  new  worshippers.  Wherever  we  have  sent  him  as  a 
preacher  he  has  impressed  himself  upon  all  those  amongst 
whom  he  worked,  chiefly  by  his  manifest  and  unfailing 
kindliness  and  unselfishness. 

We  meet  with  many  illustrations  of  the  working  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  the  hearts  of  these  people  in  connection 
with  the  sore  trials  and  bitter  persecutions  which  they 
often  have  to  meet.  Recent  converts  so  often  meet  with 
sorrows  and  trials  very  hard  to  bear  that  it  has  been  often 
remarked  among  us  that  it  almost  seems  as  if  such  trials 
were   frequently   sent   to   the   Chinese    Christians   in   the 


264  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

earlier  stages  of  their  Christian  Hfe  as  a  special  discipline 
in  the  providence  of  God.  When  one  of  the  first  converts 
in  the  Swatow  district  began  to  make  a  Christian  pro- 
fession, his  wife  was  so  bitterly  hostile  and  so  enraged  at 
his  conduct,  believing  probably  that  by  doing  so  he  had 
lost  all  reputation  in  their  village,  that,  in  her  rage  and 
disappointment,  she  hanged  herself  Another,  soon  after 
his  conversion,  suffered  the  loss  by  death  of  one  of  his 
sons.  In  another  case  two  sons  were  drowned  by  the 
upsetting  of  a  ferry-boat.  My  own  servant,  to  whom  I 
referred  a  little  ago,  had,  as  a  boy,  along  with  his  younger 
sister,  followed  his  mother  in  becoming  a  Christian,  the 
father  and  two  older  brothers  remaining  heathens.  While 
still  a  young  lad  in  our  higher  school  in  Swatow,  he  was 
summoned  by  letter  to  return  home  on  account  of  his 
mother's  severe  illness.  Shortly  after  she  died,  and  it  fell 
to  the  lot  of  the  eldest  son  to  conduct  the  funeral  rites. 
To  the  great  indignation  of  their  neighbours,  the  son, 
though  not  himself  a  Christian,  carried  out  his  mother's 
wishes,  arranging  that  she  should  be  buried  as  a  Christian, 
without  any  of  the  usual  heathen  ceremonies.  Im- 
mediately after,  the  son  himself  took  ill  and  died,  and 
throughout  the  village  it  was  loudly  declared  that  he  had 
died  in  consequence  of  the  anger  of  the  gods  on  account 
of  his  neglect.  The  younger  son  and  daughter  having 
again  been  summoned  to  be  present  at  their  mother's 
burial,  and  having  heard  nothing  of  their  brother's  illness, 
only  arrived  in  time  to  see  their  brother  buried.  They 
were  immediately  assailed  by  all  their  friends  with  the 
utmost  urgency  that  unless  they  gave  up  their  Christian 
profession  they  would  share  the  same  fate,  and  for  two 
children  in  a  family  where  all  the  other  members  were 
opposed  to  them  the  ordeal  must  have  been  a  severe  one. 
The  girl  at  least  was  really  frightened  by  the  representa- 
tions made  to  them,  but  both  were  enabled  to  stand  firm. 
Persecution   in   innumerable   forms   is   a   continual  ex- 


OF  THE  CHURCH  265 

perience  for  our  Christian  people.  Parents  often  en- 
counter the  bitter  hostility  of  their  children,  and  children 
have  often  been  beaten  and  sometimes  cast  out  by  their 
parents.  Wives  have  been  often  driven  from  their  homes 
and  found  themselves  in  the  utmost  difficulty  to  secure 
a  livelihood.  Beating  and  plundering  are  often  resorted 
to  ;  and  even  where  no  open  violence  occurs,  many  other 
ways  are  found  of  making  life  hard  for  those  who  profess 
themselves  Christians.  If  they  are  cultivators  they  are 
sometimes  refused  their  share  of  water  from  the  irrigation 
system  in  the  fields  belonging  to  the  village.  Sometimes, 
with  a  refinement  of  ingenuity,  their  turn  for  drawing 
water  for  their  fields  is  carefully  allotted  to  them  on 
Sundays.  In  the  country  villages  it  is  the  custom  to 
appoint  vigilance  committees  whose  duty  it  is  to  watch 
over  the  growing  crops,  especially  by  night,  and  in  the 
event  of  theft  to  make  good  the  loss  to  the  owner  of  the 
plundered  property.  This  protection  is  often  denied  to 
the  Christians,  and  it  becomes  known  to  everyone  that 
their  fields  may  be  plundered  with  impunity.  We  have 
often  had  to  admire  the  patience  and  forbearance  with 
which  these  wrongs  are  borne. 

Persecution  not  infrequently  takes  more  open  and 
violent  forms.  Many  years  ago  I  was  visiting  a  market 
town  in  which  we  had  recently  opened  a  station.  The 
room  which  served  as  bedroom,  eating-room,  and  place 
of  worship,  was  crowded  far  into  the  night  by  a  large 
number  of  the  worshippers  from  the  surrounding  country, 
many  of  whom  had  only  begun  to  be  hearers  of  the  truth. 
Some  time  after  we  heard  that  one  of  these  men  had  set 
apart  a  little  house  belonging  to  himself  in  his  native 
village  as  a  place  of  worship.  Many  threats  had  been 
uttered  to  deter  him  and  his  friends  from  beginning 
Christian  worship  in  the  village.  One  Sabbath  morning 
thirteen  of  them  met  for  worship,  and  their  leader,  though 
not  yet  a  member  of  the  Church  and  having  but  little 


266  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

Christian  knowledge,  read  to  them  the  Parable  of  the 
Sower,  and  conducted  their  worship.  Just  as  the  service 
was  closing  they  heard  the  sound  of  gongs  and  trumpets. 
Presently  the  house  was  surrounded  by  an  angry  crowd, 
armed  with  stones,  spears,  and  the  poles  for  carrying 
burdens,  which,  being  often  tipped  with  iron,  make  in  the 
hands  of  violent  men  most  formidable  weapons.  The 
doors  were  broken  in,  and  several  of  the  worshippers  were 
severely  wounded  while  attempting  to  escape.  Their 
leader  succeeded  in  fleeing  to  another  house,  where  he 
concealed  himself  in  a  cupboard  for  some  time.  Presently 
he  was  discovered  and  dragged  out.  One  of  the  others 
who  had  been  seized  and  severely  beaten  was  tied  up  to 
a  tree  near  the  door  of  the  little  house  where  they  had 
met.  I  remember  his  describing  to  me  how  he  stood 
there  bruised  and  suffering,  and  saw  his  friend  dragged 
by  upon  the  ground.  Those  who  had  seized  him  beat 
him  as  they  went,  although  already  as  he  passed  him  he 
seemed  to  be  nearly  dead.  He  was  then  dragged  down 
to  the  river  which  flows  past  the  village,  beaten  to  death, 
and  his  head  cut  off.  They  then  brought  some  of  his 
blood,  smeared  it  on  the  face  of  his  friend,  and  asked 
him  whether  his  God  could  save  him.  He  was  left  bound 
until  nightfall,  when  under  cover  of  darkness  he  succeeded 
in  getting  free  and  crawled  away,  bruised  and  wounded 
as  he  was,  to  another  village,  where  he  took  refuge  in  the 
house  of  a  relative.  This  outbreak  of  violence  became 
v/idely  known  throughout  the  district,  and  at  the  time 
not  a  few  who  had  been  coming  to  worship  withdrew  in 
terror.  When  the  matter  was  brought  to  the  notice  of 
the  district  magistrate  he  did  everything  in  his  power 
to  deny  and  conceal  the  facts,  and  it  was  only  after  long 
effort  on  our  part  that  the  leading  murderer,  who  was 
a  nephew  of  his  victim,  was  for  some  time  imprisoned  for 
the  crime.  Some,  however,  stood  firm  throughout  that 
time  of  fiery  trial,  and  although  everything  was  done  by 


OF  THE  CHURCH  267 

the  enemies  of  the  Christian  cause  to  overthrow  it,  we 
are  now  in  peaceful  occupation  of  a  number  of  stations 
throughout  that  district,  and  many  sincere  worshippers 
have  been  gathered  into  the  Church.  A  little  boy  who 
was  present  during  the  attack,  and  was  carried  out  by 
his  father,  who  saved  the  boy's  life  by  receiving  blows 
aimed  at  him  on  his  own  body,  is  now  one  of  our  preachers. 
In  village  preaching  of  that  time  one  was  often  told  by 
the  heathen  that  it  was  useless  to  preach  our  religion  in 
the  district  when  such  things  befell  those  who  professed 
it,  and  many  of  the  more  faint-hearted  Christians  were 
of  the  same  mind.  But  experience  has  taught  us  that 
even  in  such  painful  instances  as  these,  though  they  may 
seem  for  a  time  to  hinder  the  progress  of  the  Gospel, 
ultimately  give  solidity  and  reality  to  our  work,  and  help 
not  a  little  to  secure  the  purity  of  the  native  Church. 

The  way  in  which  the  Christians  bear  their  trials  and 
persecutions  is  a  marked  testimony  to  the  real  power  of 
the  Gospel  and  the  genuineness  of  their  faith.  In  a  small 
village  which  had  once  been  a  place  of  some  wealth,  but 
had  long  fallen  into  decay,  an  old  man  heard  and  re- 
ceived the  Gospel.  He  was  very  poor,  partially  lame,  and 
partially  blind.  He  had  three  sons,  all  of  whom  were 
lepers,  and  in  his  family  life  before  he  became  a  Christian 
he  had  passed  through  many  trials.  He  was  a  man  of 
whom  one  might  naturally  have  raised  the  question, 
whether  for  him  life  was  worth  living  ;  and  he  declared 
himself  that,  were  it  not  for  the  comforts  and  hopes  of 
the  Gospel,  he  could  not  bear  his  sorrows.  He  received 
the  Gospel  with  a  simple  and  earnest  faith,  and  was  in 
the  habit  of  going  about  everywhere  commending  it  to 
all  with  a  gentle  urgency  and  a  bright  happy  spirit  that 
so  won  those  to  whom  he  spoke  that  he  was  able  to  go 
about  freely  and  unharmed  in  places  where  others  would 
have  been  in  serious  danger.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in 
prayer,  and  by  the  infection  of  his  earnestness  he  succeeded 


268  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

in  building  a  house  in  his  native  village  to  be  used  as 
a  place  of  worship  and  residence  for  a  preacher.  He 
could  contribute  little  money,  but  he  and  his  friends  did 
what  they  could,  and  added  to  it  a  large  amount  of 
labour  freely  given.  He  succeeded  by  his  earnestness 
in  inducing  one  of  our  preachers,  who  had  formerly  been 
a  carpenter,  to  do  most  of  the  woodwork  free  of  expense, 
to  the  neglect,  as  we  sometimes  feared,  of  his  more  proper 
duties.  At  last  the  chapel  was  finished,  to  his  great 
delight,  and  it  became  a  centre  of  usefulness  in  all  the 
neighbourhood,  and  a  stepping-stone  towards  the  occupa- 
tion of  a  large  city  not  far  off. 

Many  of  the  native  Christians  show  marked  zeal  in 
seeking  to  spread  the  Gospel  among  their  friends.  In- 
deed, their  zeal  sometimes  outruns  their  knowledge.  There 
was  a  woman  in  the  Swatow  congregation  who  was  origin- 
ally a  native  of  the  island  of  Hainan.  Having  been 
married  to  a  Swatow  man,  she  had  left  her  home  some 
forty  years  ago,  and  had  become  a  Christian  while  in  the 
Swatow  district.  Her  husband  died  some  years  ago. 
Her  eldest  son  is  not  a  Christian,  but  has  not  shown  any 
special  hostility.  Her  youngest  son  was  for  a  number  of 
years  in  our  elementary  and  higher  schools,  and  after- 
wards became  a  medical  student  in  one  of  our  hospitals. 
His  recovery  from  a  dangerous  illness  during  his  boyhood 
seemed  to  quicken  his  mother's  zeal  and  faith.  For  a 
long  time  she  voluntarily  attended  the  hospital  daily, 
speaking  to  the  women,  and  endeavouring  to  bring  them 
to  the  truth.  Both  in  the  hospital  and  elsewhere  she  was 
made  a  blessing  to  many.  Four  years  ago  a  Danish  mis- 
sionary and  his  wife  working  in  Hainan  visited  Swatow  ; 
and  on  hearing  this  woman's  history,  they  proposed  to  her 
that  she  should  go  with  them  to  Hainan  to  help  in  work 
amongst  the  women  there.  Although  the  island  was  her 
native  place,  she  had  left  it  so  long  that  she  had  lost  all 
trace  of  her  relatives,  and    could  no   longer  think    of  it 


OF  THE  CHURCH  269 

as  her  home.  Her  going  there  involved  a  long  voyage,  a 
trying  change  of  climate,  and  the  leaving  behind  of  her 
children  and  all  the  friends  of  her  later  life.  She  was  by 
this  time  a  woman  of  nearly  sixty  years  of  age,  but  she 
cheerfully  accepted  the  invitation,  and  went  off  not  long 
after,  saying  that  she  was  delighted  that,  like  Paul,  she 
was  to  spend  the  rest  of  her  days  in  travelling  to  distant 
places  to  spread  the  Gospel. 

In  this  country,  one  or  two  generations  ago,  great  stress 
was  laid  in  our  religious  literature  upon  death-bed  testi- 
monies to  the  power  of  the  Gospel.  Now  we  have  come, 
perhaps  with  justice,  to  attach  more  importance  to  the 
even  tenor  of  the  common  life  than  to  the  rarer  ex- 
periences of  its  last  days  ;  but  the  deaths  of  Christian  con- 
verts in  China  often  form  a  striking  testimony  to  those 
about  them,  and  compel  them  to  recognise  the  power 
of  the  Gospel.  Last  summer,  during  an  outbreak  of 
plague,  a  little  girl  who  was  a  day  scholar  in  one  of  our 
schools  in  the  Amoy  district  was  asked  to  discontinue  her 
attendance,  lest  by  her  coming  daily  from  her  home  in  the 
city  the  plague  might  be  introduced  into  the  school.  She 
lived  with  her  father,  who  was  a  Christian,  but  her  mother 
and  grandmother  had  been  very  much  opposed  to  the 
Gospel.  The  progress  made  by  their  little  girl  at 
school  greatly  interested  her  mother  and  her  grand- 
mother, who  were  very  proud  of  it,  and  through  her 
became  interested  in  the  Gospel.  Some  time  after  she  left 
school  she  was  seized  by  plague,  and  when  all  hope  had 
been  given  up,  her  friends  prepared  her  for  burial  as  the 
Chinese  do,  by  putting  on  her  best  clothes,  shoes  and 
earrings.  When  she  was  dressed  in  this  way  to  prepare 
for  her  burial,  she  sang  aloud  two  hymns — "  The  Narrow 
Road  to  Heaven "  and  "  Jesus  Loves  Me,"  then  prayed 
aloud,  and  soon  after  died.  The  neighbours  crowded 
around  in  wonder  at  her  peace  and  happiness.  One  man 
who  was  an  opium  smoker,  and  who  was  present  at  her 


270  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

death,  sat  and  cried  like  a  child,  and  afterwards  went  back 
to  his  shop,  told  his  apprentices  that  the  Gospel  was  true, 
and  announced  that  he  had  resolved  to  give  up  opium 
and  become  a  Christian.  On  the  following  Sunday  there 
were  eight  new  worshippers  in  the  two  churches  in  the 
city,  all  of  whom  had  been  influenced  to  come  by  the 
happy  death  of  this  little  girl.  Of  the  eight  some  fell 
away  afterwards,  and  the  opium-smoker  found  that  it  was 
easier  to  resolve  than  to  reform  ;  but  three  at  least  of 
those  who  were  attracted  to  the  Christian  life  by  this 
incident  have  been  going  on  giving  every  token  of  sincerity 
and  earnestness. 

There  have  been  several  conspicuous  instances  of 
generous  kindness  and  courage  shown  by  Chinese 
Christians  in  helping  and  protecting  foreign  missionaries 
in  times  of  danger.  When  two  little  English  children, 
their  father  and  mother,  and  six  other  English  women,  all 
belonging  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  were 
murdered  three  years  ago  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Foo-chow,  one  of  the  points  of  light  in  the  dark  story  was 
the  conduct  of  a  Chinese  woman  and  a  boy  in  the  service 
of  one  of  the  ladies  who  was  attacked.  They  wrested,  at 
the  peril  of  their  lives,  a  spear  from  her  captor's  hands,  and 
enabled  her  to  escape.  In  another  case  similar  courage 
was  shown  by  a  Chinese  woman  who  was  walking  through 
the  streets  of  a  city  with  an  American  lady  missionary, 
when  a  man  suddenly  seized  a  chopper  and  for  no 
apparent  reason  attacked  the  missionary.  The  Chinese 
woman  immediately  interposed,  received  some  of  the  blows 
upon  her  own  arm,  and  succeeded  in  saving  her  friend 
from  injury.  In  Manchuria,  when  Mr  Wylie,  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  mission,  was  cruelly  murdered  by 
Chinese  soldiers  during  the  war  with  Japan,  a  noble  effort 
to  save  him  was  made  by  a  deacon  who  happened  to  be 
with  him  at  the  time  of  the  attack.  He  stood  by  Mr 
Wylie    through    all    the    violence     of    the    savage    mob, 


OF  THE  CHURCH  271 

sheltered  him  from  many  of  the  blows  aimed  at  him,  and 
when  at  last  the  missionary  fell,  severely  wounded  and 
fainting,  on  the  ground,  the  deacon  threw  himself  down 
on  the  top  of  him,  endeavouring  to  save  him  by  receiving 
on  his  own  body  the  blows  that  were  rained  upon  him. 
He  was  only  separated  from  Mr  Wylie  by  being  violently 
dragged  away,  and  then  succeeded  in  crawling  along  the 
ground  to  the  office  of  one  of  the  mandarins,  where  he 
gave  the  alarm,  and  besought  protection  for  the  missionary 
who  was  being  murdered.  In  view  of  the  recklessness  of 
the  Chinese  temper  in  regard  to  the  suffering  of  others, 
and  the  entire  selfishness  which  dominates  the  ordinary 
Chinaman's  attitude  towards  those  who  are  in  trouble,  you 
will  appreciate  the  significance  of  deeds  like  these. 

Now  that  mission  work  has  been  carried  on  in  south 
China  during  more  than  one  generation,  it  is  interesting 
to  trace  manifest  tokens  of  the  continued  working  through 
long  periods  of  the  spirit  of  God  in  family  life.  You  may 
remember  that  I  spoke  of  ten  women  who  were  advised 
by  a  devotee  of  one  of  the  idols  to  come  to  Swatow  and 
inquire  as  to  the  way  of  salvation.  One  of  these  women 
has  a  son  who  attended  the  Swatow  high  school  shortly 
after  it  was  opened,  while  a  girl  to  whom  he  had 
been  betrothed  was  also  a  scholar  in  our  girls'  school. 
Although  the  lad's  mother  was  a  Christian,  she  had 
become  somewhat  careless,  and  being  especially  liable  to 
faults  of  temper,  their  home  life  was  not  happy.  The  son 
and  daughter-in-law  did  not  remain  long  at  school,  and 
shortly  after  their  return  home  were  married.  Their 
unhappy  relations  with  the  mother  led  to  their  giving  up 
attending  Christian  worship,  and  they  even  relapsed  so  far 
into  the  heathenism  around  them  as  to  go  to  the  temple 
of  one  of  the  idols  to  make  prayers  and  ask  for  responses. 
The  case  was  for  many  years  a  cause  of  great  grief  to 
many  of  the  Christians  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  young 
man    would    not    listen    to   any   remonstrances,   and    not 


272  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

infrequently  ran  away  to  hide  when  Christian  friends  came 
to  visit  him.  The  mother  continued  her  Christian 
profession,  and  in  later  years  made  good  progress,  and, 
especially  after  attending  one  of  the  women's  classes  in 
Swatow,  attained  to  a  much  more  earnest  Christian  life. 
Meantime  her  son  and  his  family  had  become  very  poor, 
and  left  their  home  in  search  of  employment.  By  this 
time  they  were  showing  a  more  penitent  spirit,  and 
seemed  to  have  some  real  desire  to  return  to  the  right 
way.  At  length  the  son  found  employment  in  the  service 
of  a  missionary,  and  was  able  to  send  his  children  to  a 
Christian  school.  His  wife  spoke  of  herself  as  having 
been  the  lost  sheep,  and  when  she  spoke  of  the  many 
trials  through  which  they  had  passed,  she  acknowledged 
that  all  this  discipline  had  been  for  good,  and  that  the 
Saviour  had  by  means  of  it  brought  them  back  to  himself 
Their  home  now  became  a  centre  of  Christian  influence, 
and  it  was  their  children  of  whom  I  spoke  to  you  as 
leading  a  heathen  woman  to  find  the  truth  by  their  gentle 
conduct.  The  latest  incident  in  the  story  of  this  family 
took  place  before  I  left  China,  when  I  received  the  father 
and  mother  to  communion  and  baptised  their  children  one 
Sabbath  afternoon  in  Chao-chow-foo. 

Another  of  these  family  histories  goes  back  to  the  very 
beginnings  of  mission  work  in  our  district.  One  of  the 
men  who  was  first  attracted  by  the  teaching  of  Mr 
Lechler,  somewhere  about  the  year  1848,  discouraged  by 
the  trials  which  he  met  at  the  outset,  seemed  to  abandon 
altogether  his  Christian  profession.  When  Mr  Lechler 
left  the  district  it  was  with  the  bitter  impression  that  all 
his  toil  in  that  region  had  been  in  vain,  and  that  this  man 
in  particular,  of  whom  he  had  had  great  hopes,  had  gone 
back  entirely  to  idolatry.  More  than  thirty  years  later 
Mr  Lechler  revisited  the  village.  This  man  whose  defec- 
tion long  ago  had  caused  him  so  much  sorrow  had  in  the 
interval,  under  the  influence  of  William  Burns,  returned  to 


OF  THE  CHURCH  273 

the  Christian  faith,  been  baptised  by  our  mission,  and  had 
been  for  many  years  a  most  faithful  and  useful  preacher 
of  the  Gospel.  At  the  time  of  Mr  Lechler's  visit  there 
was  a  Christian  congregation  in  the  place  with  a  member- 
ship of  more  than  eighty  communicants  and  a  consider- 
able Christian  community  besides.  The  congregation  was 
under  the  care  of  a  native  minister  with  native  elders  and 
deacons.  The  old  preacher,  somewhat  enfeebled  by  age, 
had  now  retired  from  active  work,  but  his  eldest  son  was  a 
deacon  and  leader  of  the  Sabbath  school  in  the  local  con- 
gregation ;  his  second  son  was  a  student,  who  not  long 
after  was  ordained  as  a  minister  ;  his  third  son  was  second 
assistant  in  our  hospital  at  Swatow,  one  of  the  best  of  our 
native  preachers,  and  elder  in  the  Swatow  congregation  ; 
the  fourth  son  had  been  for  a  time  a  student  in  our 
college,  until  obliged  by  ill-health  to  leave  and  go  into 
business  ;  while  one  of  the  daughters,  having  been  a  pupil 
in  our  girls'  school  at  Swatow,  was  now  giving  assistance 
in  teaching  some  of  the  older  women.  To  carry  the 
story  one  stage  further,  into  the  third  generation,  I  may 
add  that  not  long  ago  I  received  to  communion  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  second  son. 

The  story  of  this  family  is  the  story  of  a  mission 
"  failure,"  and  had  Mr  Lechler  not  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age 
he  would  never  have  known  how  much  good  had  come 
from  his  apparently  unsuccessful  labours.  It  would  take 
too  long  to  go  on  narrating  individual  instances  to  illus- 
trate the  character  of  the  Chinese  Christians.  The  in- 
stances of  which  I  have  spoken,  with  many  others  of  like 
kind,  are  all  tokens  which  are  surely  both  unmistakable 
and  undeniable  of  the  working  in  Chinese  hearts  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  They  serve  to  show  that,  however  small 
the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  life  amongst  the  heathen 
may  be,  there  is  indeed  a  living  power  whose  tendency  is 
always  from  less  to  more,  and  which  out  of  weakness  is 
made  strong. 

S 


274  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  whether  the  character 
of  the  native  converts  is  sufficiently  marked  and  vigorous 
to  affect  in  any  way  the  opinions  or  the  moral  tone  of  the 
non-Christian  community  around  them.  For  many  years 
of  my  missionary  life  I  should  have  answered  this  ques- 
tion in  the  negative.  In  China  the  non-Christian  com- 
munities consist  of  enormous  numbers  of  people  with  a 
consolidated  life  and  civilisation  of  their  own.  I  was  slow 
to  believe  that  the  very  small  number  of  Christians  amongst 
them  could  wield  any  appreciable  influence  over  such  large 
masses  of  those  who,  in  thought  and  sympathy,  were  so 
alien  to  themselves.  In  later  years,  however,  it  has 
become  impossible  to  shut  one's  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the 
Christian  influence  is  telling. 

"  The  dear  Lord's  best  interpreters 
Are  humble  human  souls  ; 
The  Gospel  of  a  life  like  theirs 
Is  more  than  books  or  scrolls. 

"From  scheme  and  creed  the  light  goes  out, 
The  saintly  fact  survives  : 
The  Blessed  Master  none  can  doubt, 
Revealed  in  holy  lives." 

The  village  of  lam-tsau,  to  which  I  have  referred  as  the 
scene  of  Lechler's  early  labours,  supplies  a  recent  instance. 
A  wooden  bridge,  which  carried  the  road  over  a  stream  in 
the  outskirts  of  the  village,  was  recently  in  need  of 
extensive  repairs,  and  the  headmen  proposed  to  rebuild  it 
more  substantially  of  stone.  On  consulting  the  villagers, 
with  a  view  to  their  subscribing  the  funds,  they  were  told 
that  subscriptions  would  come  in  much  more  freely  if  the 
money,  and  the  carrying  out  of  the  work,  were  put,  not 
into  the  hands  of  the  ordinary  headmen,  but  into  those  of 
the  heads  of  the  Christian  community,  and  an  elder  and  a 
deacon  of  the  local  congregation  were  named  as  suitable 
men  who  would   command  the  confidence  of  all.      The 


OF  THE  CHURCH  275 

rapacity  of  the  headmen  prevented  the  plan  from  being 
carried  out,  but  the  popular  feeling  was  unmistakable. 

There  is  ample  evidence  that  the  opinion  and  practice 
of  the  Christians  has  created  in  many  quarters  a  revolu- 
tion in  native  sentiment  with  regard  to  the  barbarously 
cruel  custom  of  crushing  the  feet  of  the  girls.  Female 
infanticide  is  also  said  to  have  become  less  common  in 
deference  to  Christian  opinion,  but  as  other  influences, 
notably  the  scarcity  and  dearness  of  wives,  are  working  in 
the  same  direction,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  whether  this 
is  directly  due  to  Christian  influence  or  to  other  causes. 

We  often  see  evidences,  not  always  in  very  tangible 
form,  of  a  growing  opinion  in  non-Christian  society  that 
the  Christians  have  somehow  the  secret  of  a  better  life 
and  a  higher  type  of  character  than  heathenism  is  able  to 
produce. 

Indeed,  within  the  last  two  years  the  influence  of  the 
native  Church,  and  of  the  ideas  which  are  propagated  by 
the  Christian  mission,  has  been  making  itself  felt  in  the 
most  far-reaching  and  conspicuous  way.  You  have  heard 
much  of  the  "  Reform  Party  "  in  China,  of  its  struggles 
and  its  martyrs,  and  of  the  bitter  hatred  which  it  has 
drawn  upon  itself  from  all  the  forces  of  reaction.  Its 
ideas  have  laid  hold  of  the  highest  circles  of  influence, 
and  of  some  of  the  ablest  men  of  official  rank.  They 
have  carried  with  them  the  Emperor  himself,  who  seems 
to  have  become  only  too  eager  to  give  effect  to  the  new 
ideas  which  have  been  stirring  in  his  Empire.  While 
these  movements  bear  on  the  face  of  them  more  a 
political  than  a  religious  aspect,  they  are  undoubtedly  the 
outcome  of  the  Christian  leaven  which  has  been  working 
for  so  many  years  almost  unseen  and  frequently  denied 
by  shallow  observers,  but  whose  working  has  nevertheless 
been  the  strongest  of  all  the  influences  that  are  combining 
to  shape  the  future  destinies  of  China.  Movements  of 
this  sort  cannot  be  contemplated  without  some  anxiety 


276  GRO  WTH  AND  CHAR  A  CTER 

when  one  remembers  the  terrible  example  of  what  they 
may  become,  in  the  great  Taiping  Rebellion,  which  swept 
over  China  and  desolated  many  of  her  provinces  nearly 
forty  years  ago.  The  men  who  began  that  movement 
were  readers  of  the  Bible,  and  professed  themselves 
worshippers  of  God.  When  their  armies  were  on  their 
victorious  march  towards  the  north  of  China,  they  every- 
where swept  away  the  idols  in  their  path.  But  their  hold 
of  Christian  teaching  was  superficial.  Natural  passions  of 
self-conceit  and  ambition  led  them  far  away  from  the 
simplicity  of  the  truth,  and  their  movement  ended  not 
only  in  defeat  and  ruin  for  themselves,  but  in  dire  disaster 
for  millions  of  the  Chinese  people.  Associated  as  that 
movement  undoubtedly  was  in  its  inception  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Christian  missions,  it  has  often  seemed  to 
me  amazing  that,  notwithstanding  that  terrible  experience, 
the  Chinese  Government  should  have  allowed  us  the 
absolute  freedom  which  we  have  so  long  enjoyed  for  the 
preaching  throughout  China  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  no 
ignorant  bigotry  that  makes  a  body  like  the  ruling 
classes  of  China  dread  and  hate  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  To  our  minds  it  is  a  message  of  peace  and  heal- 
ing, but  when  it  comes  in  conflict  with  the  old  powers  of 
heathenism,  influences  are  called  into  play  of  an  energy 
and  sweep  far  beyond  our  control,  and  in  contemplating 
some  of  its  effects  amidst  a  heathen  civilisation  like  that 
of  China,  one  is  reminded  of  our  Lord's  words,  "  I  am  not 
come  to  send  peace  on  earth,  but  a  sword."  We  long 
earnestly  to  see  tokens  that  the  great  mass  of  heathen 
society  is  being  reached  and  influenced  by  our  teaching, 
and  by  the  character  of  those  who  have  already  accepted 
it  ;  but  while  we  do  so,  we  ought  never  to  shut  our  eyes  to 
the  tremendous  seriousness  of  the  work  in  which  we  are 
engaged.  It  is  no  doubt  in  our  immediate  intention  the 
work  of  saving  individual  souls,  of  leading  them  to  a 
purer  life  here  and  a  happy  life  hereafter,  but  it  is  a  work 


OF  THE  CHURCH  277 

also  which  tells  with  enormous  power  and  with  conse- 
quences which  we  are  wholly  unable  to  calculate,  upon 
national  life  and  destiny.  The  question  must  sometimes 
press  itself  upon  thoughtful  minds  in  view  of  the  great 
issues  of  such  work  as  this,  "  Have  we  any  right  to  dis- 
turb the  lives  of  nations  by  the  introduction  amongst 
them  of  such  enormous  forces,  and,  in  view  of  the  dangers 
involved,  is  it  worth  while  ? "  The  question  is  well 
answered  in  words  once  used  by  Principal  Rainy  in  a 
public  address  :  "It  is  worth  while,  if  we  mean  it  ;  it  is 
worth  while,  if  for  ourselves  Christ  is  the  one  necessity  of 
our  hearts."  Those  who  undertake  to  carry  on  mission 
work  amongst  great  peoples,  undertake  great  responsi- 
bilities. We  have  no  right  to  penetrate  these  nations 
with  a  revolutionary  Gospel  of  enormous  power  unless  we 
are  prepared  also  to  make  every  sacrifice  and  every  effort 
for  the  proper  care,  and  the  wise  training  and  organisa- 
tion, of  the  Christian  community  itself,  which,  while  it 
must  become  increasingly  a  source  of  revolutionary 
thought  and  movement,  is  also  the  only  body  that  can 
by  the  help  and  grace  of  God  give  these  far-reaching 
movements  a  healthy  direction,  and  lead  them  to  safe 
and  happy  issues. 

The  principal  method  of  securing  these  results  is  the 
patient  use  within  the  Church  of  a  faithful  and  wholesome 
Church  discipline.  As  soon  as  a  Church  is  planted  in  a 
heathen  country  the  continual  necessity  of  this  process 
becomes  apparent.  The  new  life  which  is  adjusting  itself 
to  the  strange  conditions  by  which  it  is  surrounded  is 
often  lodged  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  are  very  ill-fitted, 
either  by  experience  or  training,  for  meeting  the  exi- 
gencies which  constantly  arise.  They  continually  need 
guidance  and  help,  and  their  mistakes  frequently  need 
correction  by  reproof  This  may  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  greatest  problems  of  the  mission  field — to  hold  with  a 
firm   grasp,  and   weigh  in   an  even   balance,  the   require- 


278  GRO  WTH  A ND  CHA RA  CTER 

ments  of  the  Christian  law,  and  the  conditions  of  native 
life.  Many  things  which  are  strange  to  us,  and  many 
even  which  seem  to  us  highly  objectionable,  must  be 
recognised  as  matters  of  national  or  local  custom  which, 
however  unattractive  to  our  eyes,  present  no  essential 
inconsistency  with  the  law  of  Christ.  Other  things  which 
have  in  them  real  elements  of  evil  are  so  bound  up  with 
the  whole  order  of  society  that  it  is  only  by  the  utmost 
patience  and  vigilance  that  they  can  be  gradually  extri- 
cated, and  the  path  of  duty  for  the  individual  Christian 
made  clear.  The  exercise  of  Church  discipline  is  therefore 
a  fundamentally  important  function.  It  is  not  only  the 
method  by  which  we  seek  to  rectify  individual  aberra- 
tions and  develop  individual  character.  It  is  also  the 
sphere  in  which  the  Church  as  a  living  body  attains  to  the 
consciousness  for  itself  of  the  meaning  of  the  law  of 
Christ,  and  the  responsibilities  and  the  possibilities  of  the 
Christian  life. 

On  many  subjects  questions  of  discipline  are  simple 
enough.  Whole  regions  of  individual  and  social  life 
belong  so  manifestly  to  the  heathen  world  that  they  are 
necessarily  condemned  at  the  outset  by  the  awakened 
Christian  conscience.  Idolatry  in  all  its  ramifications, 
with  the  whole  congeries  of  heathen  ceremonies,  is  of 
course  rejected,  and  over  all  this  region  of  life  no 
compromise  is  possible.  In  social,  domestic  and  indi- 
vidual morals,  many  practices  and  customs  are  condemned 
by  the  better  thought  of  the  Chinese  themselves,  although 
they  are  condoned  in  actual  life,  or  they  come  to  be 
regarded  with  indifference  through  the  lack  of  any  suf- 
ficient moral  power  to  resist  them.  Against  these  also 
Christian  consciousness  wages  uncompromising  war,  feel- 
ing that  it  is  not  only  able  to  see  and  recognise  the  good, 
but  that  it  is  also  bound  to  realise  it.  But  there  are 
many  questions  in  regard  both  to  worship  and  morals 
where  there  is  much  room  for  the  exercise  of  Christian 


OF  THE  CHURCH  279 

casuistry  in  the  best  sense.  For  a  Christian  man  living 
in  a  heathen  society  it  is  often  difficult  to  determine 
where  precisely  his  responsibilities  cease.  For  instance, 
with  the  rejection  of  idolatry  there  follows  necessarily 
the  rejection  of  all  trades  and  handicrafts  which  directly 
depend  upon  it.  The  making  of  idols  and  other  objects 
of  worship,  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  heathen  cere- 
mony, is  a  large  branch  of  native  trade  which  every 
Christian  man  must  regard  as  closed  to  him.  But  there 
are  certain  industries  more  or  less  linked  on  to  these 
which  are  yet  in  themselves  wholly  innocent  and  useful. 
For  example,  we  have  had  brought  before  our  presbytery 
the  case  of  an  artist  whose  craft  included  the  painting  of 
portraits,  the  colouring  and  decoration  of  lanterns,  and 
the  designing  of  various  kinds  of  ornament.  In  all  these 
branches  he  was  liable  to  be  involved  in  some  of  the 
eddies  of  idolatrous  custom,  and  yet  in  all  of  them  also 
there  seemed  to  be  a  legitimate  sphere  for  honest  in- 
dustry. Portraits,  for  example,  might  be  used  either  as 
family  memorials  in  the  most  legitimate  way,  or  they 
might  be  used  for  the  unlawful  purposes  of  ancestral 
worship.  So  also  lanterns  and  decorations  might  form 
part  of  the  pageantry  of  heathenism,  or  they  might  be 
confined  to  the  lawful  uses  of  domestic  ornament.  The 
native  brethren  felt  that  the  individual  conscience  could 
hardly  be  left  to  extricate  these  complex  questions  for 
itself,  and  that  some  guidance  was  necessary.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  needful  to  avoid  unreasonable  inter- 
ference with  individual  liberty,  and  since  in  a  heathen 
country  many  lines  of  industry  are  necessarily  closed 
against  the  Christians,  they  feel  that  we  have  no  right  to 
put  needless  difficulties  in  the  way  of  any. 

The    question  of   Sabbath    observance    in    a    heathen 

country  is  one  of  extreme   difficulty.     There  are   many 

\    holidays   observed   by  native  society  which  are  most  of 

\  them  of  the  nature  of  religious  festivals.     They  amount 


28o  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

in  the  course  of  the  year  to  a  much  larger  number  than 
the  number  of  our  Christian  Sabbaths,  but  they  do  not 
coincide  with  them  ;  and  since  they  often  interfere  with 
trade  and  industry,  the  Christian  must  often  cut  off  from 
the  number  of  his  working  days  both  the  Christian 
Sabbaths  and  the  heathen  holidays.  The  Sabbath  is, 
of  course,  wholly  unknown  in  Chinese  society,  though 
there  are  in  Chinese  literature  some  curious  indications 
which  suggest  that  it  was  known  to  the  ancient  Chinese. 
Even  with  ourselves,  where  one  rest-day  in  seven  is 
recognised  by  public  law  and  by  almost  universal 
practice,  questions  of  Sabbath  observance,  especially  in 
industrial  life,  are  often  of  extreme  complexity  and 
difficulty.  This  of  course  is  much  more  the  case  in 
China.  It  presses  perhaps  least  hardly  upon  the  great 
body  of  the  agricultural  people.  Their  fields  and  their 
time  are  their  own,  and  it  is  open  to  them  to  adjust  their 
work  so  as  to  leave  the  Lord's  Day  free.  But  even  for 
them  difficulties  arise  through  their  association  with 
others.  The  irrigation  systems  are  under  the  united 
control  of  a  whole  village,  and  it  may  often  fall  to  the 
lot  of  the  Christian  to  take  his  share  in  work  of  this 
sort  on  the  Lord's  Day.  The  same  difficulty  occurs  in 
other  branches  of  work  where  combination  is  required. 
For  example,  the  crushing  of  the  sugar-cane  is  carried 
out,  as  I  have  explained,  in  crushing  mills  and  boiling 
establishments  which  are  the  property  of  the  villages  or 
sections  of  them,  and  which  are  worked  by  all  in  rotation. 
What  is  the  duty  of  a  Christian  man  in  these  circum- 
stances ?  If  called  upon  to  take  his  share  of  the  work 
on  Sunday,  is  he  bound  to  refuse?  If  he  sends  a 
substitute,  is  he  not  obeying  the  law  in  the  letter  and 
breaking  it  in  the  spirit?  Again,  in  the  fishing  towns 
along  the  coast,  a  still  more  difficult  situation  continually 
arises.  The  fleets  of  fishing  boats  with  their  nets  and 
tackling    are  generally  the  property  of  large  capitalists. 


OF  THE  CHURCH  281 

The  boats  work  in  pairs,  and  each  boat's  crew  consists  of 
seven  men.  If  one  of  these  men  becomes  a  Christian, 
what  course  is  he  to  follow  ?  He  has  no  controlling 
voice  in  the  management  of  the  boat,  and  must  go  and 
come  as  desired  by  the  boat's  crew.  Even  if  he 
should  seek  to  get  together  a  band  of  like-minded 
Christian  men,  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  collect 
not  one  boat's  crew,  but  two,  and  even  then  there  would 
remain  the  difficulty  of  the  men's  relation  to  the  non- 
Christian  capitalists  upon  whom  they  depend.  In  the 
cities  and  market  towns  similar  difficulties  meet  those 
who  belong  to  the  shopkeeping  class.  When  Christian 
men  are  in  partnership  with  non-Christians  they  cannot 
insist  that  the  shop  shall  be  closed  in  obedience  to  their 
wishes.  It  may  be  considered  a  liberal  concession  if  the 
heathen  partner  is  willing  to  carry  on  the  work  on 
Sundays  and  allow  the  Christian  to  absent  himself 
And  when  the  Christian  man  carries  on  business  alone 
he  still  encounters  many  difficulties.  His  customers 
often  come  from  a  distance,  visiting  the  city  on  market 
days  to  make  their  purchases,  and  if  they  find  his  shop 
unaccountably  closed  on  certain  days  which  they  have  no 
convenient  means  of  reckoning,  they  will  naturally  be 
driven  to  withdraw  their  custom. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  difficulties,  our  Church  in 
south  China  has  from  the  beginning  maintained  a  some- 
what strict  standard  of  Sabbath  observance,  and  it  has 
always  been  found  that  where  there  was  an  earnest  desire 
to  follow  the  law  of  Christ  in  all  the  departments  of  life, 
difficulties  have  been  overcome,  and  solutions  have  been 
found,  even  in  the  most  perplexing  cases.  Some  missions 
in  China  have  so  far  yielded  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
situation  as  to  require  of  their  Church  members  little  more 
than  a  single  attendance  at  public  worship  on  the  Lord's 
Day,  allowing  them  to  regard  the  rest  of  the  time  as  their 
own   to  be   employed   without  restriction.     This   is   uni- 


282  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

versally  the  case  in  the  Roman  Catholic  missions,  and  a 
similar  practice  is  followed  in  several  Protestant  ones. 
When  dealing  with  cases  of  difficulty  of  this  kind  which 
press  hard  upon  individuals,  one's  sympathies  are  often 
touched,  and  one  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  we  are  not 
laying  too  heavy  a  burden  upon  shoulders  that  are  ill- 
fitted  to  bear  it.  On  the  other  hand,  from  the  necessities 
of  the  situation,  the  observance  or  non-observance  of  the 
Lord's  Day  often  becomes,  in  the  eyes  of  Christians  and 
heathen  alike,  the  most  visible  and  practical  test  of  a 
man's  Christian  profession.  Again,  if  in  the  early  stages, 
out  of  regard  to  difficulties  in  the  way,  we  encourage 
the  formation  of  a  lower  ideal  of  what  the  Lord's  Day 
should  be  in  individual  and  social  life,  when  or  how  is  the 
unspeakable  boon  of  one  day's  rest  in  seven  ever  to  reach 
the  toiling  millions  of  the  country  ?  It  is  only  by  the 
patient  and  sympathetic  application  of  the  law  of  Christ 
to  individual  cases  in  the  course  of  a  considerate  and 
enlightened  Church  discipline  that  we  can  hope  to  solve 
these  and  other  like  difficulties. 

It  is  difficult  to  characterise  with  accuracy  the  prevalent 
type  of  Christianity  which  we  find  on  our  mission  field. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  simple  faith,  of  belief  in  prayer, 
and  there  is  at  least  a  very  frequent  acknowledgment,  if 
not  a  very  profound  sense,  of  the  working  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  great  defect,  which  probably  all  missionaries 
in  China  feel,  is  the  lack  in  the  native  Church  of  a  keen 
sense  of  sin.  This,  of  course,  is  not  surprising.  The 
whole  past  history  of  the  Chinese  mind  has  been  hostile 
to  the  growth  of  any  adequate  conception  of  sin.  The 
natural  conscience  has  not,  of  course,  lost  wholly  its 
appreciation  of  the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong, 
but  sin  in  the  Christian  sense,  and  still  more  an  adequate 
conception  of  the  guilt  of  sin,  are  things  wholly  unknown 
to  the  non-Christian  Chinese,  and  which  only  come  very 
slowly   to   the   consciousness   even   of  the   Christians.      I 


OF  THE  CHURCH  283 

have  said  that  new  converts  are  generally  brought  in  by 
the  example  and  the  testimony  of  native  Christians  in 
private  life,  and  so  far  as  their  conversion  is  a  matter  of 
doctrinal  conviction,  I  believe  experience  shows  that  the 
great  majority  of  those  who  accept  the  Christian  faith  do 
so,  not  because  of  conviction  of  personal  sin,  but  because 
they  have  grasped  the  idea  of  the  obvious  helplessness  of 
the  idols,  and  the  folly  rather  than  the  sin  of  worshipping 
them.  From  this  position  they  attain  to  some  knowledge 
and  belief  in  the  living  and  true  God,  but  they  seem 
seldom  to  realise  that  their  long  alienation  from  Him  has 
involved  any  guilt.  They  have  committed  a  mistake, 
perhaps  ;  they  have  been  unhappily  left  in  the  dark  ;  but 
now  that  they  have  come  to  know  God  the  past  is  perhaps 
too  easily  forgotten,  and  there  is  perhaps  a  too  superficial 
gladness  in  their  new  possession  of  the  truth,  which  leads 
them  away  from  that  kind  of  self-questioning  which  might 
have  led  them  to  a  deeper  sense  of  sin.  This  state  of 
mind  has  its  advantages  and  its  drawbacks.  On  the  one 
hand,  it  gives  a  freshness,  simplicity,  and  freedom  to  their 
testimony  for  the  Gospel.  They  have  no  tendency  to 
make  the  way  of  salvation  seem  hard  to  those  who  are 
outside.  They  reduce  the  Gospel  to  its  simplest  elements, 
and  seek  to  lead  men  to  it  by  the  easiest  paths.  It  may 
be  that  this  is  a  right  and  needful  stage  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  a  Christian  Church,  but  we  who  have  been  brought 
up  in  an  older  Christian  life  often  long  to  see  a  deeper 
conception  of  spiritual  things,  and  a  larger  sense  of  what 
is  involved  in  the  stupendous  transition  from  death  to  life. 
One  is  often  tempted  to  ask  what  the  Christian  religion  is 
as  it  presents  itself  to  the  consciousness  of  many  of  our 
Christian  people  in  China.  Occasional  utterances  on 
their  part  give  one  glimpses  of  a  system  of  Christian 
ideas  some  of  which  are  strange  enough,  and  many  of 
which,  though  true  and  sound  in  themselves,  differ 
widely  as  regards  emphasis  and  balance  from  the  Christian 


284  GROWTH  AND  CHARACTER 

system  as  it  presents  itself  to  our  minds.  Hence  arises 
the  profoundly  interesting  question  how  Christian  life  and 
theology  are  likely  to  develop  themselves  in  a  young 
Church  like  that  of  China,  growing  up  amongst  a  people 
who  are  themselves  the  outcome  of  an  ancient  civilisation 
and  intellectual  life.  Of  course,  the  individual  Christian 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Church  reflects  in  many  ways 
the  teaching  of  his  teachers.  This  again  lays  a  heavy 
responsibility  upon  every  missionary.  We  are  there  to 
teach  the  Word  of  God  ;  to  implant  in  their  minds  ideas 
which  are  to  be  the  universal  possession  of  all  God's 
people.  We  are  perhaps  hardly  aware  how  much  our 
own  national  temperament,  our  own  up-bringing,  and  the 
schools  of  theology  from  which  we  come,  tend  to  shape 
and  colour  our  teaching.  It  requires  a  constant  effort  of 
watchfulness  to  see  to  it  that  we  offer  to  those  under  our 
care  the  pure,  uncoloured,  universal  essence  of  our  Lord's 
teaching,  and  not  the  essentially  Scottish  or  Western 
theology  and  Gospel. 

This  is  one  reason  why  in  our  mission  we  attach  so 
much  importance  to  the  education  of  the  Christian 
children,  and  to  giving  a  somewhat  thorough  training 
to  our  catechists  and  preachers.  In  this  way  a  class 
of  men  is  being  raised  up  who  have  a  well-grounded 
knowledge  of  Christian  truth,  and  whose  intellectual  life 
is  at  the  same  time  so  disciplined  that  we  may  hope  to 
see  them  thinking  independently,  and  shaping  for  them- 
selves their  own  theological  conceptions.  It  is  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  Christian  teaching  that  the  chief  danger 
arises  of  the  teacher  imposing  himself  and  his  ideas  too 
completely  upon  the  taught ;  but  where  the  process  is 
carried  further,  one  hopes  more  and  more  to  see  a  healthy 
reaction  of  the  pupil's  mind  upon  the  matter  of  the 
teaching  supplied  to  him.  The  method  in  which  our 
native  Church  is  organised  will  also,  we  hope,  tend 
towards   the   same   result.      From    the  beginning  Church 


OF  THE  CHURCH  285 

work  is  put  as  largely  as  possible  into  the  hands  of 
competent  natives.  We  have  not  imported  a  whole 
system  of  ecclesiastical  organisation  and  discipline  from 
the  West.  We  find  ourselves  no  doubt  continually  guided 
and  helped  by  Western  experience,  and  most  of  all  by 
that  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterian  Church  ;  but  we  have 
sought  to  frame  the  organisation  gradually,  not  to  satisfy 
the  demands  of  theory,  but  to  meet  practical  needs  as 
they  arise.  At  every  step  the  methods  adopted  are 
shaped  and  moulded  by  the  advice  and  opinions  of  native 
brethren.  Thus,  for  example,  in  Swatow  we  have  been 
able  to  frame  and  carry  on  now  for  seventeen  years  a 
fairly  complete  Church  organisation,  which  is  Presbyterian 
in  its  form  and  methods,  and  yet  essentially  a  Chinese 
body.  It  is  moreover  a  working  Church  without  as 
yet  any  creed  or  formula  such  as  our  own  Confession 
of  Faith.  Our  Church  history  at  home  is  apt  to 
lead  men  to  suppose  that  the  Church  is  based  on  its 
confession,  and  perhaps  many  of  our  difficulties  in  ec- 
clesiastical questions  arise  out  of  this  displacement  of  our 
fundamental  ideas.  In  our  Chinese  Church,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Church  comes  first ;  and  while  it  is  very  probable 
that  we  shall  eventually  be  led  to  formulate  a  doctrinal 
confession,  this  will  not  be  done  because  we  feel  such  a 
document  to  be  a  fundamental  necessity  for  the  existence 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  It  will  be  formulated  only  when 
circumstances  arise  to  make  it  a  needful  instrument  for 
the  Church's  use.  We  hope  to  keep  before  us  the  idea 
that  the  doctrinal  confession  shall  exist  for  the  Church, 
and  not  the  Church  for  the  confession. 

A  review  of  earlier  Church  history  would  show  how  the 
varying  types  of  different  races  have  contributed  to  the 
development  of  Christian  theology.  The  Greek  mind 
contributed  to  it  its  speculative  liberality,  its  profound 
philosophical  insight,  its  sense  of  the  essential  dignity  of 
human  nature.     The  Roman  type  of  mental  development 


286  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CHURCH 

contributed,  on  the  other  hand,  the  strong  sense  of  law 
out  of  which  has  arisen  the  whole  region  of  what  is  called 
forensic  theology.      It  also  imposed  on  Christian  thought 
definiteness,  and  the  sense  of  limits  which  prevented  it 
from   running   wild   in   a   too  free  speculation.     In  later 
times   the   subtlety,  thoroughness,   and    clearness   of   the 
French  intellectual    type,  when  working  at  its  best,  im- 
pressed  themselves    through    Calvin    upon    our   Western 
theology.      When  time  has  allowed  for  their  development, 
may  we  not  expect  the  working  of  similar  forces  in  the 
Churches  which   are   growing  up  on    our    great   mission 
fields?      In    India  you  have  a   mind    naturally  religious 
highly  speculative  and  metaphysical,  and   moving  habitu- 
ally under   the    influence    of   sudden    heats    of   religious 
emotion.      In  China,  on  the  contrary,  you  have  a  national 
temperament  with  little  natural  sympathy  with  the  more 
subtle  aspects  of  religious  thought,  but  strongly  inclined 
to  what  is  ethical  and  practical,  having  a  firm  grasp  of 
reality,  and  presenting  a  singular  combination  of  solidity 
and  plasticity.     Where  our  theology  is  still  one-sided  and 
incomplete,  may  we  not  look  for  large  contributions  to  it 
in  days  to  come  from  the  independent  thought  and  life  of 
Christian  men  in  our  mission  fields ;  and  may  we  not  look 
forward  to  the  attainment,  as  one  of  the  ample  rewards  of 
our  mission  work,  of  the  fuller  and  more  rounded  theology 
for  which  the  Church  has  waited  so  long  ?      So  may  come 
at  last   the  healing  of  those  divisions  by  which  she  has 
been  torn  and  weakened  throughout  her  chequered  history. 
When  to  Jewish   fervour,    Greek   passion,   Roman    re- 
straint, French  acuteness,  German  depth,  English  breadth, 
Scottish    intensity,    and    American    alertness,    are  added 
Indian  religious  subtlety,  with  Chinese  ethical  sagacity — 
all   baptised   into  the    One   Spirit — then    we    may   reach 
at   last   the    fuller    theology,  worthy   of   the    world-wide 
hospitalities  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  setting  forth 
more  nearly  the  very  thoughts  of  God. 


LECTURE  XI 

EXTERNAL    RELATIONS    OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    CHURCH 

So  far  I  have  tried  to  give  you  a  continuous  view  of  the 
genesis  and  features  of  mission  work  as  viewed  from  the 
inside,  and  as  conditioned  by  the  social  and  religious  con- 
ditions around  it.  I  must  now  call  your  attention  to  some 
of  the  external  relations  and  aspects  of  mission  work. 

The  Christian  Church  in  China  occupies  a  peculiar 
position,  which  is  due  to  the  attitude  of  the  Chinese 
Government  to  religions  generally,  and  to  Christianity  in 
particular.  You  will  remember  that  under  the  Chinese 
Constitution  an  arrangement  has  grown  up  by  which 
Confucianism,  Buddhism  and  Taoism,  mutually  contra- 
dictory though  they  are  in  their  essential  nature,  not  only 
co-exist  side  by  side,  but  are  all  formally  recognised,  one 
might  almost  say  established,  by  the  Government ;  while 
at  the  same  time  under  Government  sanction  a  continual 
criticism  is  maintained  against  the  Buddhist  and  Taoist 
superstitions.  This  anomalous  state  of  things  points  to 
the  fact  referred  to  at  an  earlier  stage,  that  the  Chinese 
mind  does  not  seem  to  feel  keenly  on  religious  subjects. 
We  cannot  say  that  there  is  no  religious  sense,  but  reli- 
gion is  regarded  more  from  its  ethical  and  practical  side, 
with  a  singular  absence  of  anything  like  fanaticism  or 
religious  bigotry.  What  is  called  Confucianism,  which 
I  may  remind  you  existed  long  before  Confucius,  is  in 
a  sense  the  sole  official  religion.  According  to  this  view 
Buddhism  and  Taoism  are  always  represented  as  baseless 
superstitions  which  have  crept  into  the  popular  mind,  and 
which  are  to  be  tolerated  and  recognised  only  from  a 
paternal  regard  to  the  weakness   of  the  popular  intelli- 

287 


288  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

gence,  and  the  strength  of  their  devotion  to  these  re- 
ligions. The  popular  religion  is  treated  not  with  regard 
to  its  truth  or  falsehood,  but  only  on  the  ground  of  its 
practical  usefulness,  or  its  probable  dangers  to  civil  order 
and  public  peace.  In  short,  the  attitude  of  the  Chinese 
Government  to  religions  generally  is  very  similar  to  that 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  For  example,  the  Emperor 
Antoninus,  in  a  communication  to  the  Common  Assembly 
of  Asia,  refers  to  complaints  made  against  the  Christians 
of  that  time,  and  the  persecutions  to  which  they  had  been 
subjected,  and  then  continues  thus  :  "  Concerning  such 
persons,  some  others  also  of  the  governors  of  provinces 
wrote  to  my  most  divine  father  (that  is,  the  previous 
Emperor),  to  whom  he  replied  that  they  should  not  at  all 
disturb  such  persons,  unless  they  were  found  to  be 
attempting  anything  against  the  Roman  Government. 
And  to  myself  many  have  sent  intimations  regarding 
such  persons,  to  whom  I  also  replied  in  pursuance  of 
my  father's  judgment.  But  if  anyone  has  a  matter  to 
bring  against  any  person  of  this  class,  merely  as  such, 
let  the  accused  be  acquitted  of  the  charge,  but  let  the 
accuser  be  amenable  to  justice."  So  also  the  Chinese 
Government  has  made  no  claim  to  control  the  con- 
sciences of  its  people.  They  are  at  liberty  to  profess  any 
religion  they  please,  so  long  as  they  keep  within  the 
bounds  of  the  law  and  do  nothing  against  the  state.  The 
difficulties  with  which  Christianity  has  had  to  contend  in 
its  early  history  in  China  have  chiefly  been  those  due  to 
its  appearing  as  a  foreign  religion  and  being  propagated 
by  foreigners.  The  traditional  policy  of  China  has  been 
one  of  the  utmost  exclusiveness.  Possessing  a  vast 
territory  whose  produce  is  amply  sufficient  for  the  support 
of  its  population,  they  felt  no  need  of  foreign  intercourse, 
and  from  early  times  have  been  accustomed  to  despise  all 
foreigners.  They  were  familiar  with  barbarous  tribes  on 
the  outskirts  of  their  Empire,  and  took « for  granted  that 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  289 

these  adequately  represented  the  civilisation  of  all  foreign 
nations.  One  of  their  historians  speaks  of  these 
neighbouring  barbarous  tribes  in  this  way  :  "  The  former 
kings  in  measuring  out  the  land  put  the  Imperial  territory 
in  the  centre.  Inside  was  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  out- 
side were  the  barbarous  nations.  The  barbarians  are 
covetous  and  greedy  of  gain.  Their  hair  hangs  down 
over  their  bodies,  and  their  coats  are  buttoned  on  the  left 
side.  They  have  human  faces,  but  the  hearts  of  beasts. 
They  are  distinguished  from  the  natives  of  the  Empire 
both  by  their  manners  and  their  dress.  They  differ  both 
in  their  customs  and  their  food,  and  in  language  they  are 
mutually  unintelligible.  .  .  .  On  this  account  the  ancient 
sage  kings  treated  them  like  birds  and  beasts.  They  did 
not  contract  treaties,  nor  did  they  attack  them.  To  form 
a  treaty  is  simply  to  spend  treasure  and  to  be  deceived  ; 
to  attack  them  is  simply  to  wear  out  the  troops  and 
provoke  raids.  .  .  .  Thus  the  outer  are  not  to  be  brought 
inside.  They  must  be  held  at  a  distance,  avoiding 
familiarity.  ...  If  they  show  a  leaning  towards  right 
principles  and  present  tributary  offerings  they  should  be 
treated  with  a  yielding  etiquette ;  but  bridling  and 
repression  must  never  be  relaxed  for  conforming  to 
circumstance.  Such  was  the  constant  principle  of  the 
sage  monarchs  in  ruling  and  controlling  the  barbarian 
tribes."  Unfortunately  these  were  the  principles  on 
which  China  took  her  stand  when  in  modern  times  inter- 
course with  Western  nations  began  to  be  forced  upon  her. 
It  was,  if  possible,  still  more  unfortunate  that  Western 
commerce  in  its  early  years  consisted  so  largely  of  the 
disastrous  trade  in  opium.  This  gave  no  little  justifi- 
cation to  the  pre-conceived  idea  on  which  the  Chinese 
were  proceeding,  that  foreign  intercourse  was  a  calamity 
to  be  dreaded  rather  than  a  boon  to  be  welcomed. 
Hence  the  misunderstandings  and  disputes  which  led  to 
the    first    opium    war   in    the   year    1842.       The    phrase 

T 


290  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

"  opium  war  "  has  often  been  criticised  on  the  ground  that 
the  war  was  not  one  which  arose  upon  the  question  of 
excluding  opium  from  the  Chinese  ports,  but  was  rendered 
inevitable  by  the  haughtiness  and  assumption  with  which 
the  Chinese  treated  foreign  nations.  It  is  undoubtedly- 
true  that  these  ignorant  assumptions  rendered  impossible 
a  peaceful  solution  of  the  difficulty  ;  but  it  is  not  less  true 
that  the  well-founded  Chinese  objection  to  the  admission 
of  opium  to  her  ports,  and  the  determination,  on  the  other 
hand,  of  the  British  Government  not  to  relinquish  this 
source  of  gain,  lay  at  the  bottom  of  the  quarrel.  This 
war  was  brought  to  a  close  in  1842  by  the  treaty  of 
Nankin,  by  which  China  ceded  to  Great  Britain  the  island 
of  Hong-kong,  and  threw  open  to  foreign  trade  and 
residence  the  ports  of  Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow,  Ningpo, 
and  Shanghai.  A  second  war  was  closed  in  1858  by  the 
treaty  of  Tientsin,  by  which  the  additional  ports  of* 
Tientsin,  Newchwang,  Chefoo,  Taiwan  (that  is  Formosa), 
Swatow,  and  Kiangchow,  were  thrown  open  in  the  same 
way.  This  was  followed  by  the  opening  of  a  number  of 
others  on  later  occasions.  It  was  the  opening  of  these 
ports  which  gave  entrance  for  Christian  missions  on 
Chinese  soil ;  but  the  circumstances  connected  with  the 
opening  of  these  doors  were  in  many  ways  to  be  deeply 
regretted.  The  Christian  Church  was  ready  to  welcome 
eagerly  this  opportunity  of  access  to  the  great  populations 
of  China,  and  it  was  inevitable  and  right  that  the  utmost 
use  should  be  made  of  the  opportunities  thus  afforded. 
But  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  Government  the  Christian 
religion  has  never  been  wholly  dissociated  from  the  hostile 
and,  in  their  view,  immoral  action  of  the  British  Government. 
When  these  ports  were  thrown  open  to  the  trade  and 
residence  of  foreigners,  it  was  necessary  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  adjusting  of  disputes  and  the  government  of 
these  foreigners  who  thus  became  resident  on  Chinese  soil. 
It  was  impossible  that  they  should  be  subjected  to  the 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  291 

barbarism  of  Chinese  law,  and  it  was  arranged  that  they 
should  be  subjected  to  the  law  of  their  own  countries, 
administered  by  resident  consuls.  Thus  was  established 
what  is  called  the  doctrine  of  extra-territoriality,  which  is 
observed  also  in  Turkey  and  in  other  places  where  the 
subjects  of  civilised  powers  reside  within  the  bounds  of 
semi-barbarous  nations. 

In  the  treaties  agreed  to  between  China  and  Western 
powers,  distinct  reference  was  made  to  the  subject  of 
Christianity,  and  it  was  provided  that  under  these  treaties 
there  should  be  complete  freedom  for  the  propagation  or 
practice  of  Christianity,  both  on  the  part  of  natives  and 
foreigners.  This  provision,  as  well  as  the  natural  attitude 
always  maintained  by  the  Chinese  Government  towards 
differing  religions,  has  secured  for  us  marvellous  freedom 
in  preaching  Christianity  in  all  parts  of  China ;  and  not 
only  in  the  treaty  ports,  where  foreign  residence  is 
sanctioned,  but  in  all  the  cities,  towns,  and  country 
districts  of  the  Empire,  native  preachers  and  foreign 
missionaries  alike  have  complete  freedom  in  preaching  the 
Gospel  and  gathering  Christian  worshippers  ;  a  freedom, 
perhaps,  which  is  more  complete  than  that  which  is 
enjoyed  in  any  other  part  of  the  globe.  Now  it  is  under 
such  conditions  as  these  I  have  described  that  the 
Christian  religion  has  been  preached  and  the  Christian 
Church  planted  in  China,  and  many  complicated  results 
have  grown  out  of  this  situation. 

The  toleration  clause  of  the  treaties  runs  as  follows  : — 
"  The  religions  of  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  of  Jesus  teach 
men  to  practise  virtue,  and  to  do  to  others  as  men  would 
be  done  by,  and  all  persons  shall  be  free  to  preach  and 
practise  these  religions  without  molestation  or  inter- 
ference." This  seems  to  secure  the  right,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  missionaries  to  preach  Christianity,  and  the  right, 
on  the  other,  of  Chinese  converts  to  follow  their  teaching. 
But    these    rights    are   not  precisely  defined,  nor   is  any 


292  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

definite  provision  made  for  securing  them  ;  but  since  the 
clause  formed  part  of  an  international  arrangement  regu- 
lating the  respective  rights  of  Chinese  and  foreigners  in 
their  relations  with  each  other,  it  seemed  to  give  the 
missionary  the  right,  enjoyed  in  other  spheres  by  the 
merchant,  of  appealing  to  his  consul  in  all  cases  where 
the  treaty  was  violated.  In  this  way  the  missionary  was 
constituted  in  some  sense  the  natural  protector  of  the 
right  of  religious  toleration  conceded  to  Chinese  subjects 
hy  their  own  government. 

It  is  no  easy  task  to  weigh  the  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages of  this  arrangement.  We  are  profoundly 
thankful  to  God  that  in  His  providence  we  have  had 
secured,  to  the  fullest,  recognition  of  our  right  to  preach 
the  Gospel  throughout  the  Empire,  and  to  enjoy  the 
protection  of  the  law  for  life  and  property  in  doing  so. 
We  are  not  less  thankful  that  the  Church,  in  the  days 
of  its  weakness  and  inexperience,  is  spared  the  ordeal 
of  fiery  persecution  by  a  hostile  and  determined  govern- 
ment. It  is  a  marvellous  thing  that  every  Chinese  subject 
who  hears  the  Gospel,  under  the  peace  established  by  the 
treaties,  has  his  rights  recognised  to  worship  God  accord- 
ing to  his  conscience.  In  this  way  the  Church  has  been 
to  a  large  extent  sheltered  during  its  years  of  weakness, 
and  time  has  been  given  for  its  growth  in  numbers,  in 
influence,  and  what  is  more  important,  in  intelligent 
comprehension  of  the  truth,  and  in  the  faith  and  courage 
which  spring  from  enlarged  experience  of  the  Christian  li%. 

But  these  great  gains  are  not  without  their  drawbacks. 
In  India  it  seems  undoubtedly  an  evil  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  official  neutrality  of  the  British  Government,  it 
yet  inevitably  appears  to  the  native  mind  that  Christianity 
comes  among  them  backed  by  all  the  authority  and 
influence  of  the  ruling  power.  The  Hindoo  hearer  of 
the  Gospel,  belonging  to  a  race  that  is  naturally  weak 
and   pliant  as   compared   with    the   sturdy  independence 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  293 

of  the  Chinese,  sees  that  the  keys  of  advancement  and 
the  springs  of  power  are  in  Christian  hands,  and  he  is 
tempted  to  seek  favour  by  compliance  with  the  religion 
of  his  superiors,  while  the  stronger  minds  may  be  driven 
all  the  more  to  hold  aloof  In  China  it  is  a  distinct  ad- 
vantage that  those  who  profess  Christianity  know  well  that 
they  will  not  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  government 
by  doing  so.  The  new  religion  is  preached  by  despised 
aliens,  and  those  who  follow  it  incur  a  kind  of  social 
ostracism  by  connecting  themselves  with  it.  This  tends 
to  deter  the  insincere,  and  secure  the  purity  of  the  Church. 

It  is  therefore  an  undeniable  disadvantage  that  another 
set  of  ideas  has  been  fostered  by  the  treaty  arrangements. 
The  ill-defined  right  of  toleration  is  enjoyed  by  the  Chris- 
tians under  pressure  from  foreign  governments.  They 
thus  appear  to  stand  apart  from  the  bulk  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  to  be  under  a  foreign  protectorate.  So 
much  is  this  the  case  that  in  official  documents  a  sharp 
distinction  is  most  unwisely  but  most  persistently  made 
by  the  Chinese  authorities  between  Christians  and  Chinese 
subjects.  If  they  are  persecuted,  the  missionary  has  the 
right  and  may  consider  it  his  duty  to  report  the  matter 
to  his  consul  ;  the  consul,  in  turn,  makes  representations 
to  the  local  authorities  or  to  their  superiors,  and  en- 
deavours to  secure  official  protection  and  redress  for  the 
persecuted  native  Christians. 

To  appreciate  adequately  the  elements  of  danger  in 
these  proceedings,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  normal 
condition  of  Chinese  society.  In  China  we  have,  as  I 
have  said  in  an  earlier  lecture,  a  crowded  population 
busily  engaged  in  industrial  pursuits,  and  the  struggle 
for  life  is  keen.  The  whole  structure  of  society  is  based 
on  the  clan  system.  In  the  south  of  China,  whole  villages 
often  consist  of  persons  who  are  all  of  one  surname. 
And  even  where  this  is  not  the  case,  the  bonds  of  heredi- 
tary relationship  are  clearly  recognised,  and  determine  the 


294  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

relations  of  different  sections  of  society.  Every  man 
knows  his  own  place  in  the  system,  and  holds  it  with 
the  utmost  tenacity.  For  his  own  safety  he  will,  as  a 
rule,  both  in  regard  to  person  and  property,  carefully 
avoid  infringing  the  rights  of  others,  and  he  will  not  less 
jealously  guard  his  own.  Villages,  clans,  branches  of 
clans,  and  individuals,  are  commonly  classified  as  either 
"  strong  "  or  "  weak."  The  distinction  is  looked  upon 
as  a  vitally  essential  one,  and  all  social  movements  and 
local  rivalries  are  regarded  from  this  point  of  view.  It 
is  difficult  to  define  precisely  the  elements  of  this  much 
coveted  social  "  strength."  Wealth,  numbers,  and  indi- 
vidual ability  all  enter  into  it,  and  notably  the  possession 
within  the  circle  of  relationship  of  literary  graduates.  A 
graduate  has  the  right  of  access  to  local  magistrates,  and 
is  exempt  from  corporal  punishment  at  their  hands.  He 
is  also  by  training  competent  to  draw  up  petitions  and 
complaints,  and  his  experience  in  dealing  with  such 
matters  gives  him  in  the  course  of  years  a  fairly  extensive 
acquaintance  with  the  intricacies  of  Chinese  law.  Society 
in  all  its  sections  is  thus  divided  into  two  camps,  which 
are  described  relatively  as  the  "  strong  "  and  the  "  weak," 
although  the  preponderance  of  strength  may  pass  at 
intervals  from  the  one  to  the  other.  Even  when  the 
relations  of  these  two  camps  are  not  those  of  active 
hostility  to  each  other,  they  are  at  best  only  those  of 
an  armed  neutrality.  Besides,  there  are  amongst  them 
ancestral  feuds  and  unsettled  disputes  and  questions  of  all 
kinds  which,  when  they  are  quiescent,  are  only  slumbering, 
and  ready  on  the  smallest  occasion  to  break  out  with 
fresh  violence.  They  continually  lead  to  bitter  and 
prolonged  litigation,  and  not  infrequently  to  reckless 
destruction  of  property  and  bloodshed. 

Into  this  mass  of  inflammable  material  comes  the 
missionary,  not  only  preaching  a  new  doctrine,  but  also 
planting  in  the  heart  of  it  a  new  society.      Although  a 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  295 

stranger,  he  is  seen  to  come  and  go  at  his  pleasure,  and 
acts  with  an  independence  which  few  natives  dare  assume. 
He  is  soon  surrounded  by  numbers  of  hearers  and  con- 
verts, and  has  with  him  native  preachers  who  are  often 
men  of  some  education  and  ability.  It  is  vaguely  known 
that  China  has  entered  into  stipulations  with  foreign 
powers,  conferring  privileges  of  uncertain  significance 
upon  the  missionary  and  his  converts.  The  new  move- 
ment is  watched  with  the  utmost  interest  by  the  two 
camps,  into  which  local  society  is  everywhere  divided. 
The  "  strong,"  jealous  of  any  new  force,  usually  make  up 
their  mind  to  oppose  the  Christian  movement.  As  the 
influential  heads  of  local  society  they  usually  have  in 
their  hands  the  control  of  local  funds  for  religious  pur- 
poses, and  the  management  of  the  public  religious 
observances.  They  are  the  natural  guardians  and  re- 
gulators of  the  ancestral  religion  and  worship,  and  from 
their  social  position  and  local  influence  they  are  on  terms 
of  more  or  less  intimacy  with  the  magistrates  of  the 
neighbourhood.  Under  all  these  grounds  they  are 
naturally  led  to  pose  as  protectors  of  society  from  in- 
novation. The  camp  of  the  "  weak,"  on  the  other  hand, 
probably  smarting  under  their  recollection  of  a  long  series 
of  defeats  at  the  hands  of  the  "  strong,"  are  biding  their 
time  in  the  hope  of  securing  redress  and  revenge,  and 
incline  to  welcome  the  new  movement  and  to  associate 
themselves  with  it,  in  the  hope  of  finding  new  and  power- 
ful allies  who  may  throw  their  weight  into  the  balance  of 
power,  and  turn  it  in  their  favour.  They  therefore  come 
in  large  numbers  and  do  their  best  to  turn  the  newly 
established  Christian  society  into  a  cave  of  Adullam,  in 
which  may  be  found  everyone  that  is  in  distress  and 
everyone  that  is  in  debt,  and  everyone  that  is  dis- 
contented. The  missionary,  if  inexperienced  in  dealing 
with  such  movements,  is  gratified  by  the  large  numbers  who 
gather   regularly    for   Christian    worship,  and   who  listen 


296  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

patiently  to  his  preaching  ;  but  most  missionaries  early 
learn  to  view  extensive  movements  of  this  kind  with  a  very 
watchful  eye,  and  refuse  to  take  the  professions  made  by 
many  of  these  apparent  converts  at  their  face  value. 

Presently,  perhaps,  a  cause  of  quarrel  between  one  of 
the  adherents  of  the  "strong"  party  and  one  of  the 
adherents  of  the  "  weak  "  occurs.  It  is  promptly  reported 
to  the  missionary  as  a  case  of  persecution  in  which  the 
old  party  of  the  "  strong "  are  using  their  strength  in 
order  to  terrorise  and  injure  those  who  have  recently 
begun  to  make  the  profession  of  Christianity.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  the  persons  who  bring  these  com- 
plaints before  the  missionary,  though  professedly  Christian 
worshippers,  are  not  yet  to  be  regarded  as  in  any  sense 
Christians.  Some  of  them  may  be  more  or  less  under 
the  influence  of  the  truth  to  which  they  have  begun  to 
listen,  but  they  are  still  at  heart  members  of  a  heathen 
society,  and  have  brought  with  them  a  long  working 
acquaintance  with  its  ways  and  wiles.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing, therefore,  that  they  are  careful  to  adapt  the  facts, 
with  the  characteristic  Chinese  skill,  to  the  missionary's 
point  of  view.  Old  grounds  of  quarrel  are  kept  out  of 
sight,  and  the  action  complained  of  is  made  to  appear  a 
sudden  outburst  of  heathen  hostility  to  the  Christian 
religion.  They  eagerly  urge  that  the  missionary  should 
take  up  the  quarrel  of  his  converts,  that  he  should 
represent  it  to  the  foreign  consul,  and  through  him 
to  the  native  authorities,  and  do  his  utmost  to  put  all 
the  powers  of  the  law  in  operation  for  the  redress  of  the 
wrong  and  the  securing  of  religious  liberty.  To  an 
inexperienced  missionary  this  appeal  is  always  a  strong 
one,  and  even  after  long  experience  we  are  apt  to  allow 
it  more  weight  than  it  deserves.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
the  real  truth  is,  that  the  so-called  convert  being  now 
associated  with  a  movement  which  seems  in  his  eyes 
a    vigorous   and    promising   one,    has    presumed    on    the 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  297 

strength  of  this  alliance  to  pay  off  some  of  his  old 
grudges  or  to  carry  matters  with  a  high  hand  towards 
those  of  whom  he  had  been  formerly  in  fear.  The 
retaliation  which  he  has  thus  provoked  is  in  no  sense 
an  act  of  religious  persecution.  It  is  simply,  as  already 
remarked,  the  last  chapter  of  what  is  probably  a  long 
story  with  many  vicissitudes  of  mutual  wrongs  and 
reprisals.  But  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  the  mis- 
sionary, even  with  the  help  of  his  native  assistants,  to 
arrive  at  the  real  facts  of  the  case.  All  concerned 
combine  dexterously  to  hide  from  him  everything  that 
would  bring  the  real  history  to  light.  The  weakness 
and  helplessness  of  the  Christian  body  amongst  the  over- 
whelming numbers  of  the  heathen  around  is  painted  in 
vivid  colours.  The  missionary  is  plied  with  the  text 
about  sheep  that  have  no  shepherd,  and  dire  disaster 
to  the  Christian  cause  is  prophesied  if  the  missionary 
should  prove  himself  so  lacking  in  Christian  charity  as  to 
decline  to  take  up  vigorously  the  cause  of  the  weak  and 
oppressed.  Baffled  in  his  search  for  the  ultimate  facts  of 
the  matter  ;  wearied  with  the  clamorous  insistency  with 
which  it  is  pressed  upon  his  notice  ;  and  perhaps  need- 
lessly touched  by  highly  coloured  tales  of  suffering  that 
are  told  him,  many  a  missionary  has  been  induced  to  take 
up  cases  of  this  kind,  and  represent  them  to  the  authori- 
ties. His  doing  so  is  but  the  signal  for  a  series  of 
incidents  whose  united  effect  is  almost  invariably  disas- 
trous. Should  he  fail  in  carrying  his  point,  the  weakness 
of  the  Christian  community  is  rendered  vividly  apparent, 
and  all  the  hostile  elements  acquire  new  force  and  bear- 
ing. Should  he  on  the  other  hand  succeed  in  securing 
redress  for  the  Christian  sufferer,  and  the  punishment  of 
those  who  wrong  or  appear  to  wrong  him,  no  good  object 
is  attained.  On  the  contrary,  the  sufferer  is  rendered 
doubly  rash  and  presumptuous.  Others  of  the  converts 
are  encouraged  to  follow  his  example,  and  act  so  as  to 


298  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

provoke  further  violence  ;  the  great  body  of  native  society 
outside  the  Christian  movement  is  irritated  into  a  per- 
manent hostility  ;  while  the  magistrates  who  have  been 
called  in  to  deal  with  the  affair  bitterly  resent  the 
interference  of  a  foreign  consul  with  native  matters, 
and  with  a  shrewdness  born  of  long  experience  and 
deep  knowledge  of  their  own  people,  are  often  able  to 
see  what  is  perhaps  essentially  true,  that  instead  of  being 
forced  to  secure  religious  liberty,  they  have  only  been 
made  the  unwilling  instruments  of  a  manifest  injustice. 
At  the  same  time  the  success,  such  as  it  is,  of  the  mis- 
sionary's appeal  to  authority,  brings  about  him  still 
larger  numbers  of  those  who  have  wrongs  to  right  or 
axes  to  grind.  The  whole  Christian  movement  is  turned 
into  the  most  undesirable  directions. 

I  find  this  process  illustrated  in  a  letter  by  a  brother 
missionary  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  written 
from  Central  China.  "  The  attitude  of  the  officials 
towards  Christianity,  or  rather  the  foreign  powers  which 
(from  their  point  of  view)  send  Christianity,  has  quite 
changed,  and  they  appear  now  inclined  to  give  most  to 
those  who  ask  most  noisily.  At  present  these  seem  to 
be  the  Roman  Catholics,  who,  by  means  of  French  gun- 
boats, have  secured  the  dismissal  of  a  district  magistrate, 
and  the  freedom  from  arrest  for  three  years  of  the  reputed 
guilty  man  he  was  trying  to  punish.  The  impression, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  has  got  abroad  that  anyone  with  a 
'  business,'  who  makes  it  worth  the  catechist's  while,  can 
get  it  taken  up  by  the  French  priest  in  the  Yamen  as  a 
case  of  persecution.  No  doubt  many  of  our  inquirers 
come  to  us  with  the  same  object  in  view,  and  many  more 
in  order  to  escape  the  wiles  of  these  Roman  Catholic 
proteges.  There  have  been  about  six  cases  of  trouble 
with  them,  two  of  which  we  have  left  alone,  our  men 
being  only  very  recent  inquirers  ;  three  we  have  settled 
in  a  personal  interview  with   M.  L. ;  and  one,  in  which 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  299 

a  Christian  named  Chihsing  had  his  hand  injured  per- 
manently, besides  other  ill  treatment,  still  remains  un- 
settled. All  this  has  brought  us  between  two  fires. 
The  consul,  who  paid  a  visit  to  T'ai-chow  in  connection 
with  an  attack  by  Roman  Catholic  converts  on  those  of 
the  China  Inland  Mission,  and  the  ensuing  free  fight,  has 
blamed  the  missionaries  all  round  for  lending  too  credulous 
ears,  and  giving  too  much  aid  to  the  native  Christians  ; 
while  the  senior  native  pastor  here  has  sent  in  his  resigna- 
tion in  great  measure  by  way  of  protest  against  our  unwill- 
ingness to  write  to  the  officials  on  their  behalf,  where  the 
case  is  not  clearly  one  of  persecution  against  Christianity." 

I  may  give  you  from  my  own  experience  another 
recent  example  of  the  dangerous  elements  with  which  we 
have  to  deal.  I  am  afraid  the  story  tells  rather  heavily 
against  one  of  our  preachers,  but  as  I  wish  to  give  you  a 
perfectly  candid  view  of  what  is  met  with  on  the  mission 
field,  there  is  no  good  reason  why  I  should  not  tell  you 
the  story.  It  illustrates  several  aspects  of  Chinese  life. 
It  is  the  story  of  a  quarrel,  and,  like  most  Chinese  stories, 
begins  very  far  back,  and,  like  most  Chinese  quarrels,  it 
rises  out  of  a  grave. 

The  District  City  of  Pu-ning,  with  its  suburbs,  is  divided 
between  the  two  powerful  clans  of  Li  and  Fang.  They 
have  had  many  disputes  between  themselves,  and  each 
of  them  has  had  many  quarrels  with  the  surrounding 
villages.  For  a  long  time  the  villagers  from  all  the 
district  round  have  been  obliged  to  bring  their  local 
produce  to  market  in  the  city  of  Pu-ning.  They  have  in 
consequence  been  subjected  to  endless  exactions  on  the 
part  of  the  Fang  clan,  who  control  the  city,  and  even 
terrorise  the  district  magistrate.  They  have  made  re- 
peated efforts  to  establish  independent  markets  in  the 
villages,  but  the  influence  of  the  Fang  clan  has  sufficed 
to  defeat  all  these  movements.  This  influence  was  greatly 
increased  about  twenty-five  years  ago  by  the  rapid  rise  to 


300  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

fame  and  position  of  a  member  of  the  family,  who  by  his 
energy  and  ability  rose  in  the  military  service  to  the  rank 
of  general,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  imperial  com- 
missioner, with  very  exceptional  powers  for  putting  down 
rebellious  movements,  and  extirpating  gangs  of  robbers, 
all  over  the  north-eastern  part  of  the  Canton  province. 
During  the  Chinese  war  with  France,  he  was  appointed 
commander  of  all  the  land  and  sea  forces  for  the  defence 
of  the  whole  province.  The  name  of  General  Fang 
became  a  terror  to  all  the  people  in  our  district.  His 
spies  were  everywhere,  and  his  method  of  executing 
justice  or  injustice  was  both  rough  and  ready.  In  the 
course  of  some  twenty  years'  administration  of  his  post, 
he  is  credited  with  beheading  some  eight  or  nine  thousand 
offenders.  Numbering  a  man  of  such  exceptional  power 
as  one  of  themselves,  the  Fang  clan  became  more  and 
more  violent  and  oppressive  in  their  treatment  of  all 
other  sections  of  their  district.  General  Fang  adjusted 
for  a  time  the  disputed  question  of  markets,  but  after  his 
death  in  1891,  these  slumbering  quarrels  broke  out  again 
with  renewed  violence.  Hence,  for  a  number  of  years, 
all  round  Fu-ning  city  there  has  been  either  open  actual 
feud,  or  at  least  a  slumbering  hostility  between  the 
villages  of  the  surrounding  country  and  the  people  of 
the  city  itself  Many  persons  from  different  villages  of 
that  district  have  for  a  number  of  years  back  been 
coming  to  worship  at  our  station  of  Mienfu,  where  we 
have  a  congregation  of  some  two  hundred  members  under 
the  care  of  a  native  minister.  The  number  of  wor- 
shippers there  has  increased  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
accommodation  available  for  them,  efforts  were  made  to 
provide  a  place  of  worship  in  the  city  of  Pu-ning  or  the 
neighbourhood.  Many  efforts  in  this  direction  failed,  but 
at  length  a  piece  of  ground  was  purchased  close  to  the 
city  walls.  To  our  occupation  of  this  site  local  opposi- 
tion was  raised,  and  after  prolonged  discussion  the  prefect 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  301 

from  Chao-chow-foo  was  sent  as  a  special  commissioner 
to  settle  the  dispute.  Dealing  with  the  case  on  Chinese 
principles,  he  decided  that  the  seller  of  the  ground  in 
question  had  no  sufficient  title  to  the  land,  and  called 
upon  us  to  give  it  up  ;  but,  balancing  matters  in  the  way 
that  is  dear  to  the  Chinese  official  mind,  he  at  the  same 
time  gave  us  for  nothing  a  piece  of  waste  land,  which, 
having  been  confiscated  for  some  default  of  taxes,  was 
held  as  Government  property.  This,  however,  he  judici- 
ously selected  at  an  inconvenient  distance  from  the  city, 
so  that  we  hesitated  to  make  use  of  it  for  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  intended.  Encouraged  perhaps  by  the 
partial  success  with  which  we  had  conducted  this  struggle 
with  the  mandarins  and  the  clans  of  Pu-ning  city,  large 
numbers  of  people  in  the  villages  on  the  east  side  of  the 
city  added  themselves  to  the  already  considerable  number 
of  Christian  worshippers.  They  borrowed  from  the  head- 
men of  one  village  a  school  which  was  village  property, 
with  permission  to  use  it  as  a  place  of  worship  ;  and  I 
remember  spending  one  long  Sunday  in  preaching  there 
to  a  crowd  of  four  or  five  hundred  persons,  who  both  filled 
the  inside  of  the  building  and  crowded  around  it  on  the 
outside.  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  some  of 
these  people  were  sincere  worshippers  and  inquirers  after 
truth,  but  we  also  know  that  many  of  them  came  from 
very  different  motives.  It  is  at  this  point  the  story  I 
wish  to  tell  you  really  begins. 

Two  men  in  a  distant  village  claimed  to  possess  a  field 
with  a  grave  in  the  centre  of  it,  at  a  distance  of  some  ten 
miles  from  the  school  which  was  thus  occupied.  The 
grave,  they  said,  was  that  of  their  maternal  great-grand- 
aunt,  or  of  some  other  of  their  kindred  of  equally  at- 
tenuated relationship,  which  for  the  purpose  of  a  Chinese 
quarrel  may  be  treated  as  one  of  the  closest  and  most 
binding  forces.  This  grave  was  sold  without  their  know- 
ledge to  the  wealthiest  member  of  the  Fang  clan.      His 


302  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

influence,  however,    was    not    at    this   time    so   great   as 
formerly,   the    general    having    died    some    years    before. 
The    fraudulent    seller  of  the   grave   was   a   man    of  no 
position    belonging    to    still    another  village   lying   quite 
away  from  the  scene  of  the  greater  part  of  these  trans- 
actions.     The  purchaser,  Mr  Fang,  went  to  visit  his  newly 
acquired  property.      It  is  alleged  that  he  broke  open  the 
grave,  and  dug  up  the  coffin  ;   that  these  were  afterwards 
restored  by  their  proper  owner  ;   whereupon  Mr  Fang  not 
only  destroyed  the  grave,  but  broke  up  the  coffin  and  hid 
the  bones.      While  these  proceedings  were  going  on,  the 
two   men   who  claimed   to  be  the    real   proprietors  of  the 
grave  and  professed  devoted  attachment  to  their  maternal 
great-grand-aunt,  joined  themselves  to  the  Christian  move- 
ment, in  the  hope  of  securing  its  influence  for  the  vindica- 
tion   of   their     alleged     and    possibly    imaginary    rights. 
Among  the  several  hundred   worshippers  to  whom   they 
joined  themselves,  there  were  not  a  few  of  a  class  who  are 
always  ready  to  join  in  any  dispute  of  this  kind   for  the 
sake  of  the  excitement  and  possible  gains  which  it  might 
yield.      Our  preacher  in  charge,   though  he  had  been  for 
many  years  in  our  employment,   was  not  one  of  those  in 
whom  we  could  have  much  confidence.      A  man  of  con- 
siderable shrewdness  and  energy,  he  had  repeatedly  shown 
himself  deficient  in   Christian   temper,  and  too    ready  to 
lend  himself  to  unworthy  influences  and  movements,  and 
to  make  use  of  doubtful  measures  of  worldly  wisdom   for 
promoting,  as  he  considered,  the  interests  of  the  Church. 
He  too  easily  listened   to   the    story  told  him   about  the 
rifled   grave,  and   set  out  one  morning,  accompanied   by 
four  or  five  of  the  worshippers,  to  make  inquiries  into  the 
matter.      Going  to  the  village  of  the  alleged    fraudulent 
seller,  he  failed  to  find  him.      He  was  told  that  the  buyer, 
Mr  Fang,  had  been  there  a  short  time  before,  and  was  at 
that  moment  in  a  boat  not  far  off,  on  his  way  back  to  the 
city.     The  preacher  and  his  friends   followed  and  over- 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  303 

took  him  on  the  river  at  a  place  some  three  miles  distant 
from  the  borrowed  school.  Of  what  happened  at  this 
point  two  accounts  are  extant,  and  as  is  usually  the  case 
in  Chinese  stories,  neither  of  them  is  strictly  true.  The 
truth  is  usually  a  tertiuin  quid,  which  one  must  construct 
for  himself  By  the  preacher's  account,  he  and  his  friends 
sat  in  Mr  Fang's  boat,  conversing  with  him  upon  what 
had  taken  place,  and  urging  him  to  right  the  wrong  which 
he  had  done  to  the  real  owners  of  the  grave.  He  then 
agreed  to  accompany  them  to  the  school,  and  to  send  for 
all  the  parties  concerned  in  the  sale  in  order  to  have  the 
matter  amicably  settled.  According  to  Mr  Fang's  ac- 
count, an  armed  force  of  seventy  or  eighty  persons,  with 
the  preacher  at  the  head  of  them,  violently  seized  him 
and  his  companions,  and  with  much  violence  and  many 
insults  compelled  them  to  accompany  them  to  the  school, 
and  there  made  use  of  further  violence  and  threats  to 
compel  him  to  yield  to  their  wishes.  This  story  the 
preacher  denied,  assuring  us  that  he  had  not  more  than 
four  or  five  persons  with  him,  and  that  they  acted  through- 
out in  a  peaceful  and  reasonable  manner.  The  real  truth 
of  the  matter,  so  far  as  we  could  ascertain  it  by  much 
inquiry,  seems  to  have  been  that  whilst  the  preacher  was 
indeed  accompanied  by  only  four  or  five  others,  there  was 
a  considerable  number  of  other  persons  interested  in  the 
matter  in  dispute  who  watched  the  proceedings  from  some 
little  distance,  and  were  prepared  to  take  a  more  active 
part  in  them  if  necessity  should  arise.  In  any  case,  by 
moral  suasion  and  pressure,  if  not  by  physical  violence, 
Mr  Fang  was  brought  to  the  schoolhouse,  and  whilst  he 
was  sitting  there  being  refreshed  with  a  cup  of  tea,  some 
one  of  the  worshippers  endeavoured  to  bring  him  to  a 
pliable  condition  of  mind  by  rattling  chains  in  an  alarm- 
ing manner  on  the  further  side  of  a  thin  wooden  partition. 
After  some  discussion  he  was  allowed  to  withdraw  to  a 
friend's   house   in   the  neighbourhood,  promising  that  he 


304  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

would  send  for  the  parties  and  settle  the  dispute.  Instead 
of  doing  so  he  secretly  sent  a  messenger  to  the  district 
magistrate,  giving  a  highly  exaggerated  account  of  the 
violence  which  he  had  suffered,  and  entreating  the  magis- 
trate to  come  with  a  sufficient  force  to  deliver  him  out 
of  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  The  result  was  the  appear- 
ance on  the  scene  next  morning  of  the  civil  and  military 
magistrates  from  the  District  City  with  a  considerable 
force  of  troops,  and  a  large  following  of  promiscuous 
rabble,  along  with  a  number  of  the  heads  of  the  Fang 
clan.  The  preacher  appeared  before  the  magistrate  and 
explained  matters  from  his  point  of  view.  For  some 
little  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  old  feud  between  the  city 
and  the  villages  would  break  out  again  on  the  spot,  both 
parties  being  highly  excited  and  arms  on  both  sides  being 
ready  to  hand.  Happily,  however,  matters  were  adjusted 
peaceably  for  the  moment,  the  magistrate  returned  to  the 
city  with  Mr  Fang  under  his  protection,  and  the  crowds 
scattered  to  their  homes.  The  next  step  was  a  formal 
accusation  lodged  with  the  district  magistrate  by  Mr 
Fang,  not,  however,  against  the  preacher  who  was  the 
alleged  leader  in  the  violence  done  to  him,  nor  against 
the  owners  of  the  grave  in  whose  interests  this  violence 
was  done,  but  against  a  third  party,  who,  to  Western 
minds,  would  seem  to  have  had  no  connection  with  the 
matter  whatever.  These  were  the  heads  of  the  village 
which  owned  the  school  which  was  lent  to  the  Christians. 
The  Fang  clan  seemed  to  shrink  from  putting  themselves 
in  conflict  directly  with  the  body  of  Christians,  whom  they 
might  suppose  to  be  under  the  protection  of  the  foreign 
missionaries.  The  owners  of  the  grave  were  too  insigni- 
ficant to  be  worth  proceeding  against,  and  what  seemed 
to  them  the  best  course  was  to  make  this  new  quarrel  an 
incident  in  the  old  feud  between  city  and  village.  They 
therefore  charged  the  headmen  who  had  lent  the  school 
with    getting   up  a  mob   and  using  violence  against    Mr 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  305 

Fang.  Fearing  that  in  some  way  foreign  influence  would 
be  brought  into  the  dispute,  they  came  to  Swatow  and 
lodged  a  petition  with  the  British  consul,  requesting  him 
to  instruct  the  missionaries  to  restrain  their  preacher  from 
any  further  action  in  the  matter.  The  consul  referred 
the  petitioners  to  us,  and  afterwards,  in  consultation  with 
us,  he  replied  to  the  petition  that  the  whole  matter  was  a 
purely  Chinese  dispute  which  fell  to  be  dealt  with  by  the 
native  authorities  according  to  law. 

In  the  meantime  one  of  the  headmen  of  the  village, 
an  old  man  of  eighty,  having  gone  to  Pu-ning  city  to 
attend  the  market,  was  seized  in  the  streets  by  some 
members  of  the  Fang  clan,  handed  over  to  the  magistrate, 
and  beaten  and  imprisoned  by  him  without  the  formality 
of  either  accusation,  trial  or  sentence.  Later,  other  two 
men  connected  with  the  village  suffered  the  same  fate. 
The  missionaries'  relation  to  the  whole  matter  was  by 
this  time  not  a  little  complicated.  Our  view  was  that 
the  dispute  was  one  with  which  we  properly  had  nothing 
whatever  to  do.  The  view  of  the  Fang  clan  was  that  we 
would,  as  a  matter  of  course,  support  the  so-called  Chris- 
tians in  all  their  actions,  but  that  we  would  naturally  be 
indifferent  to  the  fate  of  the  non-Christian  headmen, 
against  whom  therefore  they  directed  their  hostility.  We 
felt  that  our  preacher,  though  by  no  means  guilty  of  the 
outrages  attributed  to  him,  had  made  a  serious  mistake, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  and  given  occasion  to  the  enemies 
of  the  Church  to  regard  him  as  implicated  in  many  law- 
less proceedings.  Naturally  our  first  impulse  was  to 
remove  him  from  the  post  in  which  this  blunder  had 
been  made,  if  not  to  dismiss  him  altogether  from  mission 
employment.  But  in  dealing  with  the  case  we  had  to 
remember  that  all  our  actions  were  being  closely  watched 
by  the  vigilant  and  powerful  clan  of  the  Fangs.  They 
were  evidently  willing  enough  to  avoid  a  quarrel  with  us, 
but  were  extremely  eager  to  fasten  one  upon  the  non- 

U 


3o6  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

Christian  headmen.      We  could  not,  therefore,  in  view  of 
their  hostile  attitude,  at  once  remove  the  preacher  or  indi- 
cate too  plainly  our  displeasure  at  his  conduct.     We  had 
no  wish  whatever  to  protect  or  assist  the  original  owners 
of  the  grave  in  question  who  had  been  the  occasion  of  all 
this  trouble,  but  we  felt  bound  to  do  our  utmost  to  sup- 
port   the   headmen   of   the   village   who   had   been  kind 
enough  to  lend  their  school  as  a  place  of  Christian  wor- 
ship.     It  was  only  justice  to  them   that  we  should  not 
suffer  them  to  be  involved  in  any  danger  on  account  of 
their  kindness  to   us,  and    it  also  concerned   our   credit 
throughout  the  countryside  that  we  should  not  seem   in 
case   of  difficulty  arising  to  be  indifferent  to  the  interests 
of  those   who   had    befriended    us.      Besides,   the   native 
Church  was  watching  us,  and  would  draw  their  own  infer- 
ences from  the  way  in  which  we  dealt  with  the  case.      In 
circumstances  like  these  a  missionary  is  compelled  to  face 
the  apparently  insoluble  problem  of  being  at  once  tortuous 
and  straightforward  in   his   actions.      Correspondence  be- 
tween the  consul  and  the  native  authorities  led  to  little 
result,  but  in  the  course  of  it  we  had  the  opportunity  of 
pressing  upon  the  attention  of  the  authorities  an  aspect  of 
the   case  which   the   Fang   clan    were  very  eager  to  have 
ignored.       The  disturbance   of  a   grave  in  China   is   not 
merely  looked  upon  as  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  pro- 
perty ;  it  touches  most  closely  the  almost  sacred  system 
of   ancestral    worship.       We    found,    on    examining    the 
Chinese  legal  code,  most  express  and  severe  condemna- 
tion of  crimes  of  this  sort.      The  punishment  for  opening 
a  grave  belonging  to  another  so  that  the  coffin   should 
be  exposed,  is  death  by  strangling  ;  for  opening  the  coffin 
so  that  the  body  is  exposed,  death  by  decapitation,  which 
to  the  Chinese  mind  is  a  much  severer  punishment,  because 
carrying   with   it  the  consequence  of  headless  existence 
in  a  future  life.      Influenced,  no  doubt,  by  the   knowledge 
that  he  was  liable  to  this  charge,  Mr  Fang  conveyed  to 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF   THE  CHURCH  307 

us  privately  an  intimation  that  he  was  not  unwilling  to 
arrange  some  compromise,  but  competent   men  whom  we 
deputed  to  meet  with  him  and  his  friends  failed  in  their 
efforts.       They    found    him   willing   to   arrange    matters, 
but  his  clansmen  were  eager  to  push  the  quarrel   against 
the  village  to  the  bitter  end,  and  even  stoned   Mr  Fang's 
house  to  show  their  disapproval  of  his  willingness  to  yield. 
In  this  way  months  passed  by,  until  a  native  merchant  in 
Swatow,  who  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  Fang  clan, 
voluntarily   offered   his   services   as   intermediary.      After 
much   negotiation   an    arrangement   was    come    to.      The 
Fang  clan  at  first  demanded  a  penalty  which  was  to  con- 
sist of  a  play  to  be  performed  and  a  feast  to  be  given  at 
the  expense  of  the  village  headmen,  and   a  written   con- 
fession  and   apology  to  be  made  by  them  for  the  insult 
suffered    by    Mr    Fang.      We   insisted    that    the   penalty, 
whatever  it  should  be,  must  be  paid  by  the  owners  of  the 
grave,  who  were  the  real   parties  implicated,  and   that  the 
village    headmen    must    be   held   entirely  free   of  blame. 
This  of  course  was  manifest  justice,  and   besides  we  were 
aware  that  by  coming  to  any  settlement  which  might  seem 
to  admit  that  blame  rested  on   the  village  headmen,  they 
would  be  in  danger  of  an  accusation  before  the  mandarins 
in  future.      On  this  point  turned  the  main  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  a  settlement.     We  explained  further  that  we  could 
not  use  our  influence  even  with  the  owners  of  the  grave  to 
offer  a  play,  as  it  is  our  constant  practice  to  teach  all  the 
worshippers   to   abstain    from    either   attending   plays    or 
contributing  to  them.      We  also  pointed  out  that  if  these 
men  had  rendered  themselves  justly  liable  to  a  penalty  for 
insulting  Mr  Fang,  he,  on  the  other  hand,  had  been  guilty 
of  a  very  serious  offence,  rendering  him  liable  even   to  an 
accusation   on   a  capital   charge,  by  his  interference  with 
the  grave.      At  length  it  was  agreed   that  for  disturbing 
the  grave  Mr  Fang  should  pay  the  real  owners  a  penalty 
of  seventy  dollars  ;  that  for  wounding  his  feelings,  they, 


308  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

on  their  part,  should  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  dollars  in  lieu 
of  play  and  feast,  and  that  they  would  present  a  written 
apology,  on  condition  that  it  passed  through  our  hands 
and  the  terms  of  it  were  approved  by  us.  The  money 
was  to  be  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  consul,  that  he 
might  be  fully  aware  of  the  terms  of  the  settlement. 
When  all  was  on  the  point  of  final  adjustment,  we  found 
the  draft  of  the  written  apology  demanded  by  Mr  Fang 
was  made  to  read  as  an  apology  made  by  the  heads  of 
the  village,  whose  entire  freedom  from  complicity  in 
the  affair  we  had  consistently  asserted  from  the  first. 
They  assured  us  that  this  was  a  mere  matter  of  form,  and 
the  intermediary  begged  us  to  yield  the  point  as  a  personal 
courtesy  to  himself.  On  this,  however,  our  decision  was 
immovable,  and  the  other  party  finally  yielding  and  con- 
senting to  accept  an  apology  from  the  owners  of  the 
grave,  this  quarrel  of  several  months'  duration  was  at 
length  adjusted.  It  was,  of  course,  a  further  condition  of 
this  settlement,  that  the  intermediary,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  Fang  clan,  should  set  free  the  headmen  and  the 
others  who  were  still  in  prison,  although  never  brought  to 
trial,  and  that  they  should  do  so  without  expense  to  these 
victims  of  a  manifest  injustice. 

I  believe  that  our  action  in  this  case  convinced  the 
Fang  clan  that  we  would  neither  support  professing 
Christians  in  any  acts  of  disorder  or  violence,  nor  would 
consent  on  grounds  of  expediency  to  transfer  blame 
attachable  to  them  to  the  shoulders  of  innocent  outsiders. 
We  also  convinced  the  large  numbers  of  professing 
worshippers  that  we  would  not  deviate  from  what  we 
considered  right  in  order  to  gratify  them  or  attract  their 
patronage  to  the  Christian  cause.  Not  a  few  of  those  who 
had  joined  themselves  to  the  Christian  movement  at  an 
earlier  stage  now  withdrew,  not  finding  in  it  the  thorough- 
going and  unscrupulous  assistance  for  which  they  had 
hoped.     We  endeavoured  to  confirm  this  impression  by 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  309 

returning  a  sum  of  thirty  dollars  contributed  by  one  of 
them  for  the  building  of  a  place  of  worship  in  the 
neighbourhood.  We  did  so  because  we  found  that  he 
was  a  debtor  in  default  for  large  sums,  for  the  recovery  of 
which  he  was  under  prosecution,  and  his  chief  motive  in 
connecting  himself  with  us  appeared  to  be  the  desire  to 
avoid  payment.  The  new  place  of  worship,  however, 
was  built  without  opposition  ;  and  the  large  number  of 
professing  worshippers  being  thus  to  some  extent 
winnowed  of  undesirable  elements,  we  hope  that  the 
Church  in  that  neighbourhood  is  now  established  upon 
solid  foundations,  with  a  better  understanding  on  the  part 
of  all  concerned  as  to  what  are  the  real  motives  and 
objects  of  the  Christian  movement. 

From  this  somewhat  intricate  story  you  may  gather 
how  many  dangers  and  unforeseen  complications  some- 
times attend  the  planting  of  the  Church  in  new  districts. 
These  dangers  are  largely  connected  with  the  somewhat 
ambiguous  rights  conferred  upon  missionaries  and  their 
converts  by  the  toleration  clauses  in  the  treaties  with 
foreign  powers.  Our  rights  under  these  clauses  may 
sometimes  be  rightly  used  to  avert  serious  dangers  ;  but 
they  may  also  by  a  little  indiscretion,  or  through  lack  of 
appreciation  of  local  circumstances,  be  used  in  ways  that 
work  only  evil.  In  the  missions  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
they  are  systematically,  and  I  am  afraid  one  must  say 
unscrupulously,  used  for  the  gathering  in  of  large  numbers 
of  nominal  converts,  whose  only  claim  to  the  Christian 
name  is  their  registration  in  lists  kept  by  native  catechists, 
in  which  they  are  entered  on  payment  of  a  small  fee, 
without  regard  to  their  possession  of  any  degree  of 
Christian  knowledge  or  character.  In  the  event  of  their 
being  involved  in  any  dispute  or  lawsuit,  the  native 
catechists  or  priests,  and  even  the  foreign  missionaries, 
take  up  their  cause  and  press  it  upon  the  native 
magistrates.      Not   unfrequently   a  still   worse    course   is 


3IO  EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

pursued.  Intimation  is  sent  round  the  villages  in  which 
there  are  large  numbers  of  so-called  Catholic  converts, 
and  these  assemble  under  arms  to  support  by  force  the 
feuds  of  their  co-religionists.  The  consequence  is  that  the 
Catholic  missions  in  southern  China,  and  I  believe  in  the 
north  also,  are  bitterly  hated  both  by  the  Chinese  people 
and  by  their  magistrates.  By  terrorising  both  magistrates 
and  people,  they  have  secured  in  many  places  a  large 
amount  of  apparent  popularity  ;  but  they  are  sowing  the 
seeds  of  a  harvest  of  hatred  and  bitterness  which  may  be 
reaped  in  deplorable  forms  in  years  to  come. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  Protestant  missionaries  have 
laid  down  the  rule  that  we  should  teach  our  converts  to 
rely  simply  on  the  protection  of  God,  refusing  them  any 
assistance  when  they  are  wronged  or  persecuted.  To 
claim  for  them  protection  under  the  toleration  clause  is 
spoken  of  as  teaching  them  to  rely  on  the  arm  of  flesh, 
and  it  is  represented  to  be  much  safer  and  better  for  the 
spirituality  of  the  Church  to  refuse  to  use  the  rights  which 
we  are  admitted  under  the  treaties  to  possess. 

Now  it  will  undoubtedly  simplify  the  missionary's 
course  in  many  cases  to  have  an  unalterable  rule  that  he 
will  on  no  consideration  appeal  to  the  foreign  consul  or 
native  mandarin  for  the  protection  of  Christian  converts  ; 
but  solutions  of  such  extreme  simplicity  are  seldom  the 
right  ones.  We  cannot  dissociate  ourselves  from  the  fact 
that  we  are  members  of  a  nation  whose  Christian  civili- 
sation and  history  have  given  it,  in  common  with  other 
Christian  nations,  an  enormous  amount  of  power  and 
influence.  The  Chinese  Government,  under  pressure  of 
this  power,  has  recognised  what  is  in  itself  absolutely  and 
indisputably  true,  that  all  men,  and  the  Chinese  like 
others,  have  an  inalienable  right  to  follow  the  truth  and  to 
worship  God  without  interference  or  persecution.  In  the 
providence  of  God  we  have,  willingly  or  unwillingly, 
become  to  the  Chinese  the  asserters  and  representatives  of 


EXTERNAL  RELATIONS  OF  THE  CHURCH  311 

this  undeniable  principle.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
divest  ourselves  of  this  character  and  to  assume  that  of 
the  earliest  preachers  of  Christianity,  when  it  was  a 
proscribed  faith  with  neither  wealth  nor  worldly  influence 
behind  it,  still  upon  its  trial  and  facing  without  support 
the  whole  strength  of  the  civilised  world.  Most  of  us 
have  learned  to  refuse  to  take  up  cases  of  individual 
wrong,  even  when  these  appeal  most  keenly  to  our 
sympathies.  We  continually  find  that  stories  of  this  sort 
are  never  told  us  in  their  entirety,  and  it  is  often  better  that 
those  who  are  wronged  should  suffer  wrongly  than  that  we 
should,  while  endeavouring  to  right  their  wrongs  enable 
them  to  wrong  others  or  to  create  a  feeling  of  bitterness 
against  themselves  among  their  non-Christian  neighbours. 

But  when  a  combined  effort  is  made  to  prevent  the 
profession  of  Christianity  in  a  village,  town,  or  district, 
when  there  is  no  question  of  private  dispute,  and  where  it 
is  impossible  to  adjust  matters  by  reasonable  explanations 
and  private  conference,  it  seems  to  be  legitimate  and  right 
that  we  should  claim  through  official  channels  the  recog- 
nition of  the  right  of  the  people  to  profess  the  Christian 
religion  without  interference. 

The  missionary  in  China  is  not  left  long  in  doubt  as  to 
the  necessity  for  combining  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent 
with  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove.  Well  for  him  if  amid 
all  complications  he  can,  by  God's  grace,  maintain  the 
steadfast  simplicity  that  becomes  the  servant  of  Christ ! 


LECTURE    XII 

PERSONAL    PRIVILEGE    AND    DUTY 

I  SAID  in  the  opening  lecture  that  for  yourselves  as 
students  of  theology  there  must  always  run  parallel  with 
these  discussions  the  question,  What  is  the  bearing  of 
these  things  on  personal  life  and  duty  ?  But  I  have  kept 
the  promise  with  which  I  began,  that  I  should  regard  it  as 
your  business  rather  than  mine  to  make  the  personal 
application  to  yourselves.  I  have  not  made  appeals  to 
you  to  give  yourselves  to  foreign  mission  service,  and  I 
have  not  based  the  matter  on  sentiment  or  on  what  is 
called  the  romance  of  missions.  It  has  been  my  wish  to 
let  the  facts  put  before  you  make  their  own  appeal,  and  I 
have  confined  myself  to  a  bare  statement  of  a  few  aspects 
of  Chinese  life,  literature  and  religion,  with  some  outline 
of  the  principles  and  practice  of  mission  work,  and  a 
summary  of  its  results  in  a  particular  mission  field.  Now 
in  this  closing  lecture  I  will  not  hesitate  to  speak  frankly 
to  you  and  say  that  the  only  thing  that  can  justify  the 
existence  of  this  lectureship,  and  certainly  the  only  thing 
that  would  induce  me  to  hold  it  is  the  hope  of  influencing 
the  direction  of  your  own  life  work.  As  students  of 
theology,  you  have  pledged  your  lives  to  the  service  of 
Christ  in  the  Gospel,  and  it  must  be  to  you  a  question  of 
the  profoundest  importance  how  and  where  your  life  work 
may  best  be  done.  In  speaking  to  you  of  China  and 
mission  work  there,  although  it  has  been  done  very  im- 
perfectly, I  hope  the  general  impression  has  been  left  upon 
your  minds  that  you  have  been  hearing  of  a  great  people 
and  a  great  work.      I   entirely  agree  with  what  is  some- 

3" 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      313 

times  said,  that  we  ought  not  to  draw  a  broad  distinction 
between  the  home  and  foreign  mission  field.  The  work 
done  in  those  two  regions  is  essentially  the  same,  and  a 
faithful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  may  equally  approve  him- 
self in  either.  But  while  these  two  fields  are  ideally  one, 
practically  for  each  man  they  are  exclusive  of  each  other. 
He  who  undertakes  to  work  in  the  one  is  necessarily  shut 
out  from  the  other,  and  one  can  hardly  exaggerate  the 
importance  of  the  choice  you  are  compelled  to  make  in 
passing  from  university  and  college  life  to  practical  work 
in  the  larger  world. 

Some  are  debarred  from  the  free  exercise  of  choice 
between  these  two  fields  by  urgent  personal  considerations 
of  which  I  will  mention  only  three. 

I.  On  the  ground  of  health.  In  China  and  other 
mission  fields  the  conditions  of  life  are  largely  different 
from  those  with  which  you  are  familiar  at  home.  In 
some  fields  physical  privations  and  hard  labour  in  un- 
toward circumstances  must  be  faced,  but  of  course  the 
chief  consideration  with  regard  to  health  arises  from  the 
question  of  climate.  In  most  mission  fields  our  work  is 
done  under  a  tropical  sun,  and  sometimes  in  a  malarious 
atmosphere.  It  is  nearly  always  necessary  to  ^wq  more 
attention  to  the  care  of  one's  health  than  would  be 
required  at  home ;  and  the  conditions  being  less  familiar, 
men  are  apt  to  make  mistakes,  especially  at  the  outset  of 
their  career,  and  incur  risks  which  care  and  prudence 
might  have  avoided.  It  is  impossible  for  the  best  medical 
skill  to  foretell  whether  the  constitution  of  any  individual 
is  well  adapted  or  otherwise  to  live  in  a  tropical  climate. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  climate 
of  our  own  country  has  dangers  of  its  own,  and  that  some 
men  may  reasonably  look  for  better  health  on  the  foreign 
field  than  at  home.  The  real  question  which  one  has  to 
consider,  and  on  which  medical  advice  is  helpful,  is 
whether  a  man  is  actually  of  sound  health.      There  is  no 


314      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

mysterious  condition  of  fitness  to  bear  tropical  climates 
other  than  this,  that  one's  constitution  and  organs  must  be 
sound,  and  that  the  man  himself  should  be  prepared  to 
exercise  reasonable  care  and  prudence,  especially  in  regard 
to  food  and  exposure  to  sun  and  to  malaria.  If  there  is 
weakness  in  any  important  organ  or  vital  function,  the 
conditions  of  life  in  the  foreign  field  are  not  unlikely 
to  develop  it  into  a  cause  of  danger.  But  wherever  the 
two  conditions  exist  of  sound  health  and  reasonable 
prudence  in  the  care  of  it,  no  one  need  feel  himself 
debarred  from  foreign  service  by  consideration  of  physical 
health. 

2.  Others  feel  restrained  from  facing  the  question  by 
family  ties  and  home  claims.  It  is  both  a  difficult  and 
delicate  matter  to  offer  advice  in  regard  to  restraints  of 
this  kind,  which  involve  considerations  which  not  only 
touch  closely  each  man's  conscience,  but  which  involve 
also  the  interests  of  those  nearly  related  to  him.  But  it 
is  very  easy  to  exaggerate  the  restraints  imposed  upon  us 
by  these  home  claims.  May  I  say  frankly  that  home 
opposition  to  a  man's  going  abroad,  unless  based  on 
sound  reasons,  is  not  of  itself  an  obstacle  to  which  one 
must  necessarily  yield  ?  There  is  perhaps  a  danger  of 
creating  opposition  of  this  sort  by  prematurely  raising  the 
question  before  one  has  attained  to  clear  light  or  formed 
a  settled  purpose  in  regard  to  it.  I  remember  a  friend  of 
my  own  who,  under  a  sudden  impulse,  thought  of  offering 
himself  for  foreign  mission  work.  He  spoke  of  the  matter 
at  home,  and  was  immediately  told  by  his  mother  that  he 
must  never  raise  the  question  again.  He  never  did, 
because  he  had  not  yet  fully  considered  it.  He  was 
silenced  without  being  convinced,  and  his  conscience  was 
not  satisfied.  It  is  better  that  the  matter  should  be  well 
weighed  before  anything  is  said,  and  that  whatever  action 
one  takes  should  be  based  on  a  well-grounded  conviction 
of  duty.      A  man   may  easily  exaggerate  the  importance 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      315 

of  his  personal  presence  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of 
those  nearest  to  him,  and  may  on  the  other  hand  fail  to 
realise  how  many  compensations  may  come  to  them  not 
only  in  spite  of  his  departure  to  the  foreign  field,  but  even 
in  consequence  of  it.  May  I  refer  to  my  own  experience 
by  way  of  illustration  ?  As  an  only  son,  when  I  went  to 
the  foreign  field  I  left  at  home  my  mother  and  three 
sisters,  who  might  fairly  have  made  a  strong  claim  for  my 
remaining  at  home,  but  from  no  one  of  them  did  I  ever 
hear  a  single  word  of  remonstrance  or  opposition.  When 
I  returned  from  my  first  term  of  service  only  one  of  these 
four  remained  in  life,  and  yet  I  never  had  a  moment's 
reason  for  regret  for  the  decision  which  I  made.  I  had 
ample  testimony  that  the  tie  formed  with  the  foreign 
mission  field  became  to  those  who  remained  at  home  a 
signal  means  of  grace,  and  the  source  of  a  large  amount 
of  genuine  happiness,  which,  if  weighed  in  the  right 
balance,  fully  compensated  them,  I  believe,  for  any  loss 
they  might  have  incurred.  There  are  many  cases  in 
which  the  question  does  not  arise  in  so  acute  a  form,  but 
even  if  it  does,  I  can  testify  with  the  clearest  conviction, 
and  from  some  experience,  that  the  dearest  ties  and  the 
strongest  claims  of  home  life  need  not  always  debar  one 
from  accepting  service  in  the  foreign  field. 

3.  The  third  of  these  restraints  is  the  most  formidable, 
and  one  of  which  it  is  very  difficult  for  the  individual  to 
judge,  I  mean  the  fear  of  incompetence  for  the  special  and 
varied  work  required  of  the  foreign  missionary.  There 
are  men  who  are  really  incompetent  for  work  abroad, 
just  as  there  are  men,  men  even  who  have  been  passed  by 
examination  boards  and  presbyteries,  who  are  equally 
incompetent  for  ministerial  work  at  home.  Anyone  who 
rightly  estimates  the  nature  of  foreign  mission  work  will 
naturally  and  rightly  be  very  ready  to  charge  himself 
with  incompetence  to  meet  its  demands,  and  I  should  be 
very  slow   to  advise  any  man   to  go  abroad  unless  there 


3i6      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

were  good  reason  to  consider  him  well  suited  for  this  special 
service.  There  are  many  degrees  of  competence,  and  any 
man  who  is  fitted  to  be  useful  at  home  would  probably 
be  useful  to  some  degree  abroad  ;  but  with  the  limited 
means  at  their  disposal,  foreign  mission  committees  cannot 
at  present  afford  to  send  out  less  than  the  best  men  they 
can  get.  They  are  therefore  somewhat  jealous  guardians 
of  the  appointments  which  they  make,  and  if  anyone  fears 
that  he  is  incompetent  for  foreign  service,  he  at  least 
need  not  fear  to  submit  the  question  to  the  judgment  of 
those  who  know  him.  Different  foreign  fields  call  for 
different  gifts  and  types  of  men,  and  those  who  are  un- 
suited  for  one  may  be  very  well  fitted  for  useful  service 
in  another. 

For  these  reasons,  while  giving  due  place  to  these  three 
restraints — health,  home  claims,  and  personal  incom- 
petence— which  along  with  other  matters  may  seem  to 
some  of  you  to  debar  practical  consideration  of  the 
question  of  foreign  service,  I  would  urge  you  not  to 
make  too  much  of  them,  but  to  place  them  in  their  due 
relation  to  questions  of  another  kind. 

If  not  debarred  by  any  of  these  restraints,  I  assume 
that  you  will  give  the  question  fair  and  earnest  attention. 
You  have  offered  yourselves  for  the  Church's  service,  and 
I  assume  that  the  offer  is  made  without  reservations.  I 
do  not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  you  will  be  withheld 
from  undertaking  any  line  of  service  for  petty  or  selfish 
reasons,  but  there  is  a  danger  that  the  foreign  field  may 
suffer  from  lack  of  deliberate  consideration  and  choice. 
The  work  that  lies  close  around  early  receives  your 
attention  ;  your  first  essays  in  Christian  service  are  made 
in  the  field  of  home  mission  work,  and  a  man  must  have 
very  little  zeal  or  sensitiveness  who  does  not  very  soon 
feel  that  his  heart  and  sympathies  are  rooting  themselves 
deeply  in  the  work  he  has  taken  in  hand  among  people  of 
his  own  race.     Work  of  this  kind  may  soon  loom  so  large 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      317 

in  our  view  as  to  obscure  what  is  farther  off,  and  it  re- 
quires a  conscious  effort,  sometimes  a  great  effort,  to  put 
the  two  spheres  of  service  justly  before  our  minds  so  as  to 
make  a  well-weighed  choice.  When  I  was  a  student  an 
incident  occurred  which  helped  me  to  a  decision.  I  went 
one  evening  to  preach  in  a  home  mission  where  I  had 
previously  worked,  I  asked  the  door-keeper  how  they 
were  getting  on.  "  Weel,  sir,"  he  said,  "  we've  a  great 
deal  to  contend  wi'  ;  there's  Mr  Broon,  he  has  opened  a 
hall  jist  on  the  other  side  of  the  street !  "  I  thought  of 
the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  felt  that  if  these 
ancient  enemies  had  given  place  to  the  harmless  hostilities 
of  "  Mr  Broon,"  my  services  were  not  very  urgently  re- 
quired, and  I  might  with  a  good  conscience  transfer  them 
to  some  other  field  where  one  might  hope  to  find  foes 
more  worthy  of  Christian  steel. 

If  anyone  feels  so  impressed  by  the  needs  of  home 
work  that  he  hesitates  to  consider  other  fields,  let  me 
suggest  a  simple  method  which  may  help  to  determine 
personal  duty.  Resolve  that  you  will  not  offer  yourself 
for  any  post  for  which  there  are  other  candidates  as  com- 
petent as  yourself  In  Great  Britain  there  are  about 
38,000,000  souls,  and  among  these  there  are  about 
44,000  ministers,  and  over  700,000  Sabbath  school 
teachers.  In  China  there  are  of  foreign  missionaries 
about  400  ordained  men,  500  unordained,  and  700 
women,  besides  the  wives  of  the  missionaries,  something 
over  2000  in  all.  The  ratio  of  these  workers  to  the 
population  is  as  if  you  had  in  Edinburgh  one  minister 
and  one  Sabbath  school  teacher  to  do  all  the  evangelistic 
and  pastoral  work  of  the  city. 

I  believe  another  hindrance  often  prevents  the  equal 
consideration  of  the  foreign  field.  Men  hesitate  to  offer 
themselves  for  foreign  work  who  are  not  unwilling  to 
consider  its  claims  if  summoned  to  it  by  a  mission  com- 
mittee or   some  other  outward   call.     They  feel   that  to 


3i8      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

offer  themselves  savours  perhaps  of  presumption,  and  not 
knowing  what  appointments  on  the  mission  field  may  be 
open  at  the  time,  not  unjustly  fear  lest  after  offering  they 
should  meet  with  a  refusal,  and  so  underlie  a  certain 
stigma,  as  having  been  rejected  by  competent  judges  in 
making  application  for  an  honourable  field  of  service.  A 
feeling  of  hesitation  on  this  ground  is  perfectly  justifiable 
and  even  wise,  but  there  are  ways  of  overcoming  the 
difficulty  and  making  known  your  willingness  to  respond 
to  calls  for  foreign  service,  without  making  a  formal  offer 
and  incurring  the  risk  of  a  refusal.  You  may  have  access 
to  men  occupying  responsible  positions  in  foreign  mission 
committees  who  will  advise  you  on  these  matters,  and  it 
should  surely  be  well  understood  that  the  holder  of  this 
lectureship  is  bound  to  put  himself  at  your  disposal  in 
giving  any  advice  or  assistance  in  regard  to  questions  of 
this  kind.  I  should  consider  it,  for  my  part,  a  great 
privilege  if  any  of  you  would  trust  me  so  far  as  to  talk 
over  the  question  of  your  field  of  future  service  privately 
in  a  frank  and  confidential  way,  and  that  whether  your 
wishes  might  lead  you  to  think  of  China,  or  of  some 
other  of  the  mission  fields  of  your  own  Church.  I  have 
a  very  vivid  recollection  of  my  own  difficulties  at  this 
stage.  When  I  reached  the  end  of  my  theological  course 
I  had  few  doubts  on  the  question  between  home  and 
foreign  service,  for  these  had  been  settled  long  before,  but 
the  difficulty  was  very  great  to  decide  between  a  call  to 
Bombay  and  a  call  to  China.  I  have  therefore  the 
keenest  sympathy  with  anyone  who  is  seriously  con- 
sidering questions  of  this  kind,  and  would  very  gladly  be 
of  service  to  him  in  helping  him  to  a  wise  decision. 

There  are  two  points  of  view  from  which  you  may  ap- 
proach the  question  of  whether  your  duty  lies  in  the  direc- 
tion of  home  or  of  foreign  work.  As  a  missionary  I  fear 
I  cannot  pretend  to  divest  myself  of  all  bias  in  favour  of 
the  foreign  field,  but  I  will  try  to  put  these  two  points  of 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      319 

view  before  you  in  the  hope  of  helping  you  to  think  out 
the  question  for  yourselves.  From  the  first  point  of  view 
the  question  may  be  stated  in  this  form  :  What  field  of 
service  will  give  me  the  best  opportunities  for  the  develop- 
ment of  my  own  spiritual  and  mental  life,  and  my  indi- 
vidual character  as  a  Christian  man  ?  From  the  second  it 
it  will  take  the  form  :  How  may  I  best  serve  the  Church  ? 
Where  can  I  hope  to  do  most  good  to  others,  and  which 
of  the  two  fields  has  the  strongest  claim  on  the  service 
which  I  may  be  able  to  offer? 

It  may  seem  that  the  latter  of  these  questions  is  the 
broader  and  better  way  of  putting  the  matter,  but  I  think 
the  first  is  an  equally  worthy  question  for  a  man  to  put  to 
himself,  and  is  perhaps  the  one  that  should  be  first  con- 
sidered. Whatever  my  work  in  the  world  may  be,  my 
first  duty  is  surely  to  develop  to  the  best  advantage  all  the 
powers,  physical,  mental  and  spiritual,  which  God  has  given 
me  as  my  endowment  for  service.  I  will  therefore  first 
consider  the  question  from  this  point  of  view. 

It  is  often  represented  that  the  man  who  embarks  on 
foreign  work  makes  large  sacrifices  of  his  own  interests  in 
the  hope  of  rendering  service  to  others.  No  doubt  there 
are  many  of  the  conditions  of  home  life  which  are 
eminently  favourable  to  the  growth  and  culture  of  one's 
own  character.  These  are  the  opportunities  of  contact  with 
the  great  body  of  long-established  and  highly  developed 
Christian  life  and  society,  free  access  to  books  and  other 
means  of  mental  and  spiritual  stimulus.  But  if  I  have 
succeeded  in  putting  the  mission  field  before  you  with 
any  clearness,  you  will  perhaps  be  prepared  to  believe  me 
that  you  may  hope  to  find  there  many  influences  not  less 
favourable  to  the  development  of  your  own  life  and 
character.  I  have  tried  to  show  you  how  various  are 
the  forms  of  mission  work.  Whether  a  man's  tastes  lie 
mainly  in  the  direction  of  scholarship  and  literature,  of 
direct  evangelistic  work,  or  ecclesiastical  life  and  organisa- 


320      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

tion,  he  will  find  the  fullest  scope  for  them  on  the  mission 
field. 

A  notable  feature  of  national  and  political  life  is  the 
growth  in  our  own  time  of  the  imperial  spirit,  and  a  sense 
of  the  largeness  of  our  obligations  to  the  great  colonies 
and  dependencies  under  our  control.  It  has  been  often 
pointed  out  how  the  great  responsibilities  of  Empire 
stimulate  and  draw  out  many  of  the  best  qualities  of 
our  race,  and  tend  to  produce,  both  in  our  army  and 
in  the  civil  and  diplomatic  services,  men  of  the  highest 
intellectual  power  and  the  finest  types  of  character.  Is 
there  not  something  analogous  to  this  in  our  Church  life  ? 
Is  there  not  a  danger  lest  we  should  allow  it  to  narrow 
itself  so  that  it  becomes  local,  and  what  has  been  called 
parochial,  and  is  it  not  one  of  the  great  advantages  of  the 
development  of  foreign  missions  in  recent  times  that  it 
helps,  as  it  were,  to  imperialise  our  Christianity,  to  give  us 
a  larger  horizon  and  a  freer  atmosphere,  and  to  call  into 
more  strenuous  exercise  a  higher  intellectual  energy  and  a 
larger  spiritual  life  ;  and  if  that  be  so,  may  we  not  antici- 
pate for  ourselves  individually  that  the  highest  develop- 
ment of  our  own  powers  may  be  found  in  placing 
ourselves  upon  the  wider  field  ?  At  home  only  men 
of  very  exceptional  powers  can  expect  to  stand  out  in 
any  degree  from  the  great  body  of  the  Christian  army  or 
to  leave  permanent  mark  upon  the  Church's  work.  Every 
labourer  in  the  home  field  is  in  close  contact  on  all  sides 
with  many  others,  in  not  a  few  of  whom  he  probably 
recognises  greater  powers  than  his  own.  His  own  depart- 
ment of  work  is  often  strictly  limited  and  conditioned 
by  the  spheres  allotted  to  those  above,  below  and  around 
him.  But  on  the  foreign  field  the  missionary  for  the  most 
part  stands  almost  alone.  At  the  best  he  is  one  of  a  very 
small  body  who  are  jointly  responsible  for  all  the  varied 
departments  of  service  which  the  time  calls  for.  It  is 
theirs  also  to  watch  the  course  of  events  ;  to  recognise  the 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      321 

signs  of  the  times  ;  to  make  new  departures  and  strike 
out  new  lines  of  work  as  necessity  arises.  Each  man 
therefore  feels  called  upon  to  bring  out  the  very  best  and 
utmost  that  is  in  him,  and  many  men  have  discovered  on 
the  foreign  field,  to  their  own  surprise  and  to  the  surprise 
of  others,  powers  and  capacities,  both  mental  and  spiritual, 
of  whose  existence  they  were  not  previously  aware.  I 
have  myself  even  taught  singing  on  the  mission  field, 
which  is  to  those  who  know  me  the  quaintest  possible 
illustration  of  what  I  have  been  saying. 

I  have  seen  this  illustrated  amongst  my  own  colleagues, 
and  it  should  be  a  marked  feature  of  every  healthy 
mission  body  that  every  man  makes  some  fresh  and  dis- 
tinctive contribution  to  the  shaping  and  development  of 
the  work  of  his  mission,  and  in  doing  so  finds  also  scope 
and  discipline  for  his  own  nature  and  character. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  second  point  of  view  which 
I  have  suggested.  From  the  first  you  have  to  estimate 
the  probable  effect  of  your  work  upon  the  development  of 
your  own  powers.  From  the  second  you  have  to  con- 
sider how  the  powers  which  you  are  conscious  of  possess- 
ing in  greater  or  less  degree  may  be  best  applied  to 
accomplish  the  great  ends  of  your  Christian  service. 
Where  can  you  hope  to  do  most  good,  and  how  may  you 
best  serve  the  Church  ?  No  one  will  deny  that  there  is 
an  ample  field  for  Christian  service  in  our  own  country, 
and  that  any  man  may  hope  to  spend  his  days  profitably 
in  the  Church's  service  here  if  he  is  called  of  God  to  enter 
it,  but  if  we  cherish  large  ambitions  in  the  best  sense,  I 
believe  the  opportunities  for  service  are  for  most  men 
immeasurably  larger  on  the  mission  field. 

The  work  to  be  done  there  is  called  for  by  three  classes 
of  people,  all  of  whom  have  the  strongest  possible  claims 
upon  our  service.  There  is  first  the  great  mass  of  non- 
Christian  people  who  have  not  yet  been  reached  by  any 
of  our  mission  work,  who  are  still  in  unbroken  moral  and 

X 


322      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

spiritual  darkness.  In  the  Hok-lo  section  of  the  Swatow 
mission  field  alone,  each  of  our  fifty  mission  stations,  with 
its  sphere  of  influence  indicated  on  the  map,  reaches  on 
the  average  some  200  villages,  containing  a  population  of 
nearly  80,000  souls  ;  so  that  these  fifty  stations,  which  are 
worked  at  present  by  only  three  ordained  men,  reach  a 
total  population  of  about  three  millions  and  a  half  Even 
after  the  forty  years  of  our  mission  history  there  are  still, 
as  you  see,  considerable  blanks  upon  the  map,  and  the 
great  mass  of  the  non-Christian  people  are  as  yet  wholly 
untouched.  If  that  is  so  in  a  mission  which  has  been 
so  long  established,  and  whose  field  is  fairly  well  covered 
with  stations,  you  can  in  some  degree  understand  how 
enormous  is  the  work  still  to  be  done  over  the  vast  field 
of  the  whole  Empire.  I  have  tried  to  give  you  some 
idea  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  condition  of  these  great 
multitudes  of  people,  and  in  this  connection  I  must  refer 
shortly  to  one  question  of  profound  difficulty.  You  have 
often  seen  appeals  on  behalf  of  missions  based  on  the  plea 
that  all  the  innumerable  multitudes  of  the  heathen  who  die 
without  hearing  the  Gospel  must  perish  everlastingly.  Is 
this  a  principal  motive  ?  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  in  the  earlier  mission  literature  this  is  the  chief  ground 
of  appeal.  I  wish,  gentlemen,  that  I  could  honestly  pass 
by  this  profoundly  difficult  question.  I  might  perhaps  do 
so  on  the  ground  that  to  answer  it  wisely  requires  far  more 
knowledge  of  theology  than  I  possess,  and  more  careful 
special  study  than  I  have  ever  been  able  to  give  to  it.  It 
is  a  question  which  must  weigh  heavily  on  the  spirit  of 
every  missionary,  and  cannot  be  long  absent  from  his 
mind.  It  is  one  thing  to  reason  in  the  abstract  about 
multitudes  and  millions  far  away ;  it  is  quite  another 
when  one  is  thinking  of  the  laughing  boys  and  girls,  the 
hearty,  kindly  young  men,  the  weary  old  men  and 
burdened  women,  among  whom  one  is  living,  and 
from    whom    one    has    times    without    number    received 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      323 

the  little  kindnesses  and  courtesies  which  even  in  a 
heathen  country  are  so  often  shown  to  the  passing 
stranger. 

I  feel  bound  to  say  to  you  that  whatever  conclusion 
one  might  be  driven  to  by  irresistible  conviction,  I  at 
least  could  never  speak  of  the  belief  that  all  heathen  men 
and  women  and  children  who  do  not  hear  the  Gospel  are 
inevitably  doomed  to  eternal  death,  as  a  motive  to  the 
work  of  missions.  On  the  contrary — "  that  way  madness 
lies  " — this  doctrine,  if  it  forced  itself  without  any  con- 
ceivable alleviation  on  my  mind,  would  utterly  paralyse 
me.  It  would  weigh  with  crushing  force,  and  could  never 
be  to  me  a  spring  or  motive  for  action. 

I  see  two  men,  one  born  without  his  own  choice  in 
China,  taking  up  his  inheritance  of  a  shallow  narrow 
life,  a  life  of  the  earth  earthy,  with  neither  the  gloom 
nor  the  glory  which  are  cast  by  the  light  and  shadow  of 
the  unseen  world,  and  to  whom  the  word  of  revelation  has 
never  come  ;  another,  born  in  a  Christian  country,  reared 
in  an  atmosphere  of  Christian  piety,  learning  from  his 
earliest  years  the  words  of  life,  and  living  under  the 
powers  of  the  world  to  come  ;  and  I  remember  that  the 
second  has  been  commanded  by  the  just  Lord  to  tell  his 
brother  the  way  of  life,  but  he  has  been  preoccupied, 
busy  here  and  there,  has  had,  as  Browning  says,  "  his 
beetles  to  collect,"  and  for  eighteen  centuries  has  for- 
gotten to  tell  his  brother —  and  then  you  tell  me  that 
this  last,  who  knew,  shall  be  saved  in  the  Great  Day, 
and  his  brother,  who  knew  not,  shall  be  lost  for  ever. 

Nay,  I  will  rather  take  my  righteous  Lord  at  His  own 
most  gracious  word — "  He  that  knew  not  shall  be  beaten 
with  few  stripes." 

But  when  we  try  to  define  our  thoughts,  and  build 
them  into  a  clear  hope,  we  find  only  mystery  and  dark- 
ness. The  shallow  solution  often  offered,  that  if  the 
heathen   live  up  to  the   light   they  have  they   shall    be 


324      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

saved,  is  no  solution.  They  do  not  live  up  to  their 
light,  and  so  the  difficulty  remains.  I  do  not  pretend 
to  solve  this  mystery,  but  I  may  remind  you  that  your 
Church  has  openly  declared  that  on  this  subject  she 
does  not  propose  to  bind  your  consciences  or  your 
beliefs.  In  the  Declaratory  Act  of  1892  it  is  said: 
"It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  believe,  and  one  end  of 
their  calling  by  God,  to  make  known  the  Gospel  to 
all  men  everywhere  for  the  obedience  of  faith.  And 
that  while  the  Gospel  is  the  ordinary  means  of  salvation 
for  those  to  whom  it  is  made  known,  yet  it  does  not 
follow,  nor  is  the  Confession  to  be  held  as  teaching, 
that  any  who  die  in  infancy  are  lost,  or  that  God  may 
not  extend  His  mercy  for  Christ's  sake,  and  by  His 
Holy  Spirit,  to  those  who  are  beyond  the  reach  of  these 
means,  as  it  may  seem  good  to  Him,  according  to  the 
riches  of  His  grace."  And  I  am  not  sure  that  any  wiser 
words  have  been  spoken  on  this  dark  subject  than  those 
in  which  the  learned  principal  of  New  College,  Edinburgh, 
expounded  the  Act :  "  We  are  the  furthest  removed  in 
the  world  from  wishing  to  encourage  speculations,  extra- 
Biblical  speculations,  as  to  the  condition  and  case  of  those 
who  in  the  mysterious  providence  of  God  even  now,  1800 
years  after  the  Gospel  began  to  be  preached,  are  still 
outside  of  the  reach  of  the  means  of  grace.  On  the 
other  hand,  no  one  can  fail  to  feel  that  here  we  are  in 
the  presence  of  a  great  mystery,  in  regard  to  which  we 
must  take  heed  how  we  speak,  and  what  burdens  we  lay 
upon  men.  ...  I  do  think  that  we  are  entitled  to  say 
that  the  Confession  is  not  to  be  held  as  teaching 
absolutely  that  it  is  out  of  the  question  that  in  any  of 
those  cases  God  may  not,  for  Christ's  sake  and  by  His 
Spirit,  find  His  way  to  the  hearts  and  lives  of  some  of 
these  people.  The  discouraging  thing  about  it  is  that 
one  does  not  seem  to  see  it.  One  does  not  seem  to  see 
anywhere    in    those   dark    regions,    with    their    varieties, 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      325 

doubtless,  of  human  character  and  human  conduct,  a 
better  and  a  worse — one  does  not  seem  to  see  anything 
that  looks  like  saintship  anywhere  singularly  emerging 
among  them  ;  we  are  compelled  to  lay  our  hands  upon 
our  lips — is  it  unseemly,  is  it  unscriptural,  that  we 
should  say  that  we  do  not  know  whether  God  may 
not  extend  His  mercy  for  Christ's  sake  by  His  Holy 
Spirit  to  some  of  them,  as  it  may  seem  good  to 
Him  ?  " 

With  these  wise  words,  weightier  than  any  that  I  could 
use,  I  will  leave  this  great  question  unsolved.  It  lies 
under  a  cloud  of  great  darkness  ;  but  behind  the  cloud  is 
GOD,  and  He  doeth  all  things  well. 

Whatever  dim  solace  we  may  gather  on  this  subject 
from  Scripture,  and  whatever  half-formed  thoughts  we 
may  cherish,  we  cannot  but  feel,  as  we  look  around  us 
in  a  heathen  country,  that,  without  trenching  on  things 
too  deep  for  us,  the  burden  of  these  millions  of  souls  is 
crushing  enough.  We  see  in  the  daily  life  and  character 
of  the  people  around  us  a  profound  need  of  the  Gospel 
as  a  new  law  of  life,  and  of  the  Living  Christ  as  the  only 
Saviour  who  can  through  it  bring  life  and  immortality 
to  clear  light. 

The  work  to  be  done  among  the  non-Christian  masses 
of  the  people  is  very  various,  and  the  doors  of  opportunity 
are  many  and  wide,  in  all  successful  mission  fields.  Work 
of  this  kind  is  at  present  to  a  very  large  extent  left  un- 
done. The  demands  of  a  growing  Church  for  care  and 
teaching  leave  less  and  less  time  for  work  among  those 
outside.  We  often  earnestly  wish  that  our  numbers 
would  allow  us  to  set  apart  some  men  almost  exclusively 
for  evangelistic  work.  Such  men  should  be  set  free  from 
all  pastoral  responsibilities  among  the  Christian  Churches, 
and  from  all  entanglement  in  the  business  arrangements 
which  must  be  attended  to  at  the  centre  of  every  large 
mission.     They  should  be  free  to  spend  their  time  amongst 


326      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

the  people  in  the  cities  and  country  districts,  making  a 
large  study  of  native  literature,  religions  and  life  ;  coming 
into  the  closest  possible  contact  with  all  classes  of  the 
people,  and  free  to  devise  and  carry  out  methods  of 
bringing  the  Gospel  in  all  its  aspects,  as  bearing  both 
on  individual  and  national  life,  within  their  reach.  They 
should  itinerate  in  the  country  districts,  reaching  by  open- 
air  preaching  and  by  private  conversations  the  great  bulk 
of  the  common  people.  They  should  visit  schools  and 
literary  retreats  in  order  to  reach  the  professional  scholars. 
They  should  have  time  to  make  a  thorough  study  of  the 
classical  books,  and  to  clear  their  own  minds  as  to  the 
best  ways  of  bringing  into  comparison  and  contrast  with 
them  both  the  practical  and  scientific  aspects  of  Christian 
theology.  They  should  find  their  way  into  the  ware- 
houses, shops,  and  homes  of  the  mercantile  classes,  and 
the  official  residences  of  the  magistrates,  expounding 
among  these  capable  and  intelligent  men  of  the  world 
the  bearings  of  Christianity  upon  national  prosperity,  as 
well  as  pressing  upon  them  the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  the 
only  way  of  individual  regeneration.  In  the  present  con- 
dition of  China  much  might  also  be  done  by  public  or 
semi-public  lectures  on  Western  civilisation,  science  and 
philosophy,  showing  how  these  are  dominated  by  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  and  how  in  these  alone  is  to  be 
found  the  secret  of  national  prosperity.  The  same  men, 
or  others,  should  be  free  to  devote  much  time  to  the 
translation,  or  better  still,  to  the  composition,  of  books 
by  which  similar  subjects  might  be  brought  clearly  and 
comprehensively  within  the  reach  of  the  reading  classes  ; 
as  well  as  to  the  creation  of  a  religious  literature  of  a 
simpler  type,  which  might  be  used  in  conjunction  with 
evangelistic  preaching  for  bringing  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tian truth  pointedly  and  powerfully  before  the  minds  of 
cultured  and  uncultured  readers  alike.  The  Society  for 
the  diffusion  of  Christian  and  general  knowledge  has  done 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      327 

much  in  recent  years  to  produce  and  distribute  a  large 
amount  of  varied  literature  of  a  high  class,  for  which 
there  is  a  large  and  growing  demand  amongst  the  best 
minds  in  all  parts  of  China.  Their  publications  have 
been  largely  circulated  at  the  great  gatherings  of  literary 
men  in  the  provincial  and  other  Civil  Service  examina- 
tions. But  far  more  should  be  done  along  these  lines, 
and  their  work  is  greatly  hindered  by  the  fact  that  very 
few  missionaries  have  time  to  devote  to  it.  In  large 
cities  any  man  with  the  soul  of  an  evangelist,  and  the 
equipment  of  a  scholar,  and  with  a  sympathetic  genial 
heart,  could  easily  find  access  to  large  numbers  of  Chinese 
homes,  where  he  would  be  welcomed  as  a  friend,  and 
might  soon  by  the  blessing  of  God  become  a  spiritual 
power  of  immeasurable  value.  In  these  and  many  other 
ways  which  time  and  experience  would  develop,  the 
evangelisation  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  Chinese  people 
remains  still  to  be  undertaken,  and  no  man  need  covet 
a  larger  or  more  varied  field  of  usefulness  than  this,  which 
is  waiting  all  over  China  for  any  who  are  willing  and 
fitted  to  enter  upon  it. 

The  second  class  of  those  demanding  our  help  on  the 
mission  field  consists  of  the  members  of  the  young  and 
growing  native  Church.  We  have  to  deal  with  them 
as  members  of  congregations,  as  pupils  in  schools  and 
colleges,  and  to  cherish  as  full  a  personal  knowledge 
as  possible  of  their  individual  circumstances,  temptations, 
and  requirements.  As  I  have  said,  we  have  a  large 
amount  of  valuable  help  in  caring  for  them  in  the  work 
of  our  native  preachers,  but  these  can  never  relieve  us  of 
our  responsibility.  There  is  much  help  that  the  foreign 
missionary  can  render  out  of  his  experience  of  the  more 
advanced  Christian  life  of  the  West,  the  fuller  training 
which  he  has  enjoyed,  and  the  better  appliances  within 
his  reach  for  the  minute  study  of  Scripture  and  its  appli- 
cation to  the  varied  problems  of  the  Christian  life.     There 


328      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

is  urgent  need,  therefore,  for  a  great  deal  more  preaching 
on  the  part  of  the  foreign  missionaries  to  the  members  of 
the  native  Church.  There  is  no  part  of  our  mission  work 
which  is  more  delightful  than  the  minute  and  varied 
study  of  Scripture,  and  the  exhibition  and  enforcement  of 
it  among  these  bodies  of  Christian  people  whose  interest 
is  thoroughly  awake,  and  whose  growing  Christian  life  is 
fully  able  to  assimilate  all  that  we  can  gather  for  them 
out  of  the  treasures  of  grace  and  truth  revealed  in  Scrip- 
ture. The  students  in  our  colleges,  upon  whose  training 
depends  largely  the  character  which  will  be  assumed  by 
the  Chinese  Church  in  coming  days,  are  eager  for  more 
thorough  teaching  than  we,  with  our  limited  numbers,  are 
able  to  give  them.  They  have  a  wholesome  appetite  for 
work,  and  are  more  apt  to  reproach  us  for  giving  them 
too  little  than  for  making  too  large  demands  on  their 
time  and  energy.  In  Swatow  alone  two  men  would  find 
an  ample  and  most  enjoyable  field  of  work  in  the  training 
of  our  theological  students.  The  watchful'  and  sympa- 
thetic administration  of  Church  discipline  is  another  large 
field  of  labour  to  which  we  are  able  at  present  to  give  far 
too  little  attention,  and  the  visitation  of  our  Christian 
people  at  their  homes  affords  to  them,  so  far  as  we  can 
accomplish  it,  the  keenest  pleasure,  and  gives  comfort 
which  is  sorely  needed  amidst  the  trying  experiences  of 
their  Christian  life,  lived  in  the  midst  of  an  overwhelming 
mass  of  heathen  society.  Our  presbyterial  organisation, 
with  its  arrangements  for  the  systematic  visitation  and 
oversight  of  the  congregations,  its  constant  demand  for 
wise  and  cautious  legislation  and  administration,  both  as 
resfards  the  outward  framework  of  the  Church  and  as 
regards  the  cultivation  and  utilisation  of  its  spiritual 
energies,  is  another  field  which  would  profitably  absorb 
much  more  than  all  the  time  and  strength  at  our  dis- 
posal. I  have  spoken  of  the  demand  for  the  production 
of  a  broad  and  high-class  literature  for  evangelistic  use. 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      329 

and  we  need  a  similar  literature  adapted  to  meet  the 
wants  of  all  classes  of  our  Christian  people.  Scripture 
translation  is  at  present  occupying  a  large  amount  of 
time  and  strength,  and  will  continue  to  do  so  for  many- 
years  to  come.  Personally,  I  have  mortgaged  half  my 
time  for  ten  years  to  this  work.  The  whole  department 
of  commentaries  and  text-books  to  aid  private  Christians 
and  professional  students  in  the  study  of  Scripture  is  as  yet 
almost  wholly  untouched.  There  is  an  urgent  need  for  text- 
books over  all  the  range  of  subjects  required  by  students 
in  Christian  colleges  and  younger  pupils  in  Christian 
schools.  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  with  its  mar- 
vellous wealth  of  Christian  experience,  is  already  endear- 
ing itself  to  the  Christian  Church,  and  it  stands  as  yet 
almost  alone  as  a  specimen  of  popular  devotional  litera- 
ture ;  and  whilst  we  seek  to  teach  our  people  to  keep  the 
Lord's  Day  holy,  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  them  to  fill 
it  up  in  a  profitable  way  until  we  put  within  their  reach  a 
popular  Christian  literature  adapted  to  their  needs.  We 
have  as  yet  very  few  books  of  this  class,  and  this  need 
must  remain  unmet  until  we  have  in  all  our  missions 
men  with  the  necessary  leisure  and  the  special  gifts  which 
shall  enable  them  to  supply  it. 

There  remains  the  third  class  of  those  who  are  in 
urgent  need  of  our  help  and  service — a  class  who  in  some 
respects  have  a  stronger  claim  upon  us  than  either  the 
heathen  or  the  members  of  the  Christian  Church.  I  mean 
the  class  which  within  the  last  few  years  especially  has 
become  a  very  numerous  one,  and  which  is  daily  growing 
in  numbers — the  inquirers  and  applicants  for  Christian 
baptism.  They  no  longer  belong  to  the  mass  of 
heathenism  ;  they  are  worshippers  of  God,  and  many 
of  them  are  members  of  the  body  of  Christ.  But  they 
are  not  yet  numbered  in  our  Church  rolls,  or  counted  as 
converts.  They  are  ready  to  make  the  Christian  pro- 
fession, and  many  of  them  have  already  endured  obloquy 


330      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

and  persecution  on  account  of  their  profession  amongst 
their  own  people  of  their  new  faith.  They  are  regular 
attenders  at  Christian  worship,  and  many  of  them  have 
made  considerable  attainment  in  the  knowledge  of 
Christian  truth.  But  our  numbers  are  so  few,  even 
with  the  aid  of  our  native  ordained  brethren,  that  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  overtake  the  examination  and  sifting 
of  the  large  numbers  who  are  waiting  for  baptism.  When 
two  or  three  men  have  to  meet  the  large  demands  of  a 
mission  centre,  and  at  the  same  time  to  distribute  their 
energies  over  forty  or  sixty  or  a  hundred  out-stations, 
it  is  obviously  impossible  for  them  to  deal  promptly  and 
efficiently  with  hundreds  and  perhaps  thousands  of  in- 
quirers, who  are  seeking  admission  to  the  Christian 
Church  over  a  wide  expanse  of  country.  Besides,  we 
are  frequently  being  visited  by  worshippers  at  a  still 
more  elementary  stage  of  their  Christian  profession,  who 
come  entreating  us  to  open  places  of  worship  in  their 
villages  and  to  provide  them  with  Christian  teachers. 
There  are  few  pieces  of  work  more  trying  to  a  missionary 
than  the  effort  to  persuade  a  number  of  ardent  wor- 
shippers, who  are  just  escaping  from  the  hold  of 
heathenism,  to  be  content  to  remain  unshepherded,  and 
to  pursue  as  best  they  may  the  Christian  life  amongst 
the  heathen,  without  the  sympathy  and  guidance  which 
we  long  to  give  them. 

China  is  now  in  a  critical  condition.  Her  great  powers 
and  possibilities  are  being  thrown  into  the  melting-pot — 
not,  as  I  believe,  to  be  consumed,  but  to  be  purified  of  her 
dross,  and  recast  in  new  forms,  worthy  of  the  gold,  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  which  shall  stand  the  trial  of  the 
Great  Day.  I  have  pointed  out  to  you  some  parallels 
between  China  and  the  Roman  Empire,  between  the 
mission  Church  and  the  Church  of  the  early  Christian 
centuries.  Not  long  ago  we  were  nearer  than  we  dreamed 
of  to  another  parallel — to  a  repetition,  with  all  its  evil, 


PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY      331 

and  perhaps  with  some  of  its  good,  of  the  conversion  of 
Constantine.  A  palace  intrigue  has  checked  for  the 
moment  the  raw  haste  of  some  too  eager  leaders  of 
revolution.  But  time  is  on  our  side,  and  God  is  working 
for  his  own.  Great  changes  are  coming,  and  the  longer 
they  are  delayed  the  more  earth-shaking  will  be  the 
upheaval  when  it  comes.  A  growing  Church  among  a 
strong  people  burdened  by  a  decadent  Empire — the 
spirit  of  life  working  against  the  forces  of  death  and 
decay  in  the  one  great  Pagan  Empire  which  the  wrecks 
of  millenniums  have  left  on  the  Earth — surely  there  is  a 
call  to  service  that  might  fire  the  spirit  of  the  dullest  of 
us  ! 

We  hail  recent  events  as  the  struggle  between  darkness 
and  light  which  always  ends  in  dawn.  The  Christian 
mission  has  given  to  China  her  first  reformers.  Six  of 
these  have  laid  down  their  lives  as  martyrs  of  her  regenera- 
tion, one  of  them  exclaiming  on  his  way  to  death,  "  For 
every  head  that  falls  to-day  a  thousand  will  arise  to  carry 
on  the  good  cause." 

The  hope  of  China  lies  in  the  building  up  of  a  pure 
and  strong  Christian  Church,  which  shall  supply  the 
elements  of  character  which  alone  can  save  the  nation, 
and  shall  so  permeate  with  the  Christian  spirit  the  stores 
of  knowledge  and  material  power  now  pressed  on  China's 
acceptance  by  the  West,  as  to  make  them  a  means  of  life, 
not  an  occasion  of  ruin  and  calamity. 

Much  depends  on  how  we  deal  with  our  opportunity. 
We  have  a  native  Church  of  over  80,000  communicants, 
many  thousands  of  worshippers  and  hearers,  and  we  have 
free  access  to  millions  of  awakened  and  inquiring  minds. 

If  you  will  come  and  help  us  to  mould  aright  these 
precious  materials  for  building  up  there  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  we  shall,  please  God,  save  China  yet !  But 
powers  of  evil  are  at  work  as  well  as  the  powers  of  good. 
If  we  fail  in  our  part  now  the  glowing  metal  that  seems 


332      PERSONAL  PRIVILEGE  AND  DUTY 

all  but  ready  for  the  touch  of  the  Divine  Artist  will  fall 
cold  and  hard  again,  and  the  Church  may  have  to  wait 
through  decades,  if  not  centuries,  of  shame  and  remorse, 
for  the  return  of  the  opportunity  of  to-day.  Those  are  to 
be  envied  who  shall  witness  during  the  coming  twenty 
years  the  great  ingathering  in  China  —  the  greatest 
triumph  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  Church's  King,  since 
the  Christian  centuries  began  to  run  their  glorious  course  ! 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  the  attention  you  have 
given  to  these  lectures.  If  they  have  helped  to  give 
definiteness  to  your  thoughts  of  foreign  mission  work  ; 
and  above  all,  if  they  shall  help  any  of  you  to  decide  to 
choose  the  foreign  field  for  your  own  sphere  of  service  ;  it 
will  be  to  me  a  sufficient  compensation  for  absence  from 
my  own  post  during  a  most  critical  time,  when  even  the 
little  help  that  one  man  can  give  can  ill  be  spared. 

I  wish  you  God-speed  in  all  your  work  and  studies 
here,  and  an  abundant  blessing  upon  the  life  work  to 
which  God  may  afterwards  call  you.  If  by  God's  kind 
leading  we  meet  again  on  the  mission  field,  I  will  add  to 
this  "  God-speed  "  my  heartiest  welcome  ! 


MAP  OF  SWATOW  MISSION  FIELD 


The  map  is  designed  to  illustrate  the  growth  of  a  mission,  and  the 
way  in  which  its  stations  gradually  cover  the  field  of  work.  It  is 
assumed  that  the  influence  of  a  station  reaches  a  distance  of  six 
miles.  Accordingly  in  the  map  each  station  has  a  circle  drawn 
round  it  of  six  miles'  radius.  The  area  thus  enclosed  is  coloured  to 
indicate  the  period  at  which  it  was  opened.  The  history  of  the 
mission  is  divided  into  eight  periods,  the  first  of  eight  years,  and  all 
the  others  of  five  years  each.  To  each  period  a  colour  is  assigned, 
beginning  with  violet  for  the  earliest,  and  following  the  order  of  the 
spectrum  down  to  red  for  the  latest. 

Several  practical  lessons  are  enforced  by  the  map  : — 

1.  When  stations  are  sparse  each  influences  a  complete  circle  of 
the  radius  assigned.  When  they  become  more  numerous  these 
areas  overlap,  and  the  effective  area  of  each  is  diminished.  The 
smaller  area  should  be  so  much  th^  more  thoroughly  worked,  to 
compensate  for  this  loss  in  extension. 

2.  A  station  may  be  so  placed  that  it  loses  a  large  part  of  its 
effective  area  ;  for  example,  on  the  sea  coast,  especially  if  on  a 
promontory,  or  at  the  base  of  mountains  with  little  population. 
Thus,  Chia-na  and  Chia-nng  are  badly  placed  for  area  of  influence, 
while  Am-pou  and  Chao-chow-foo  are  placed  to  the  best  advantage. 
But  other  considerations  must  often  determine  the  choice. 

3.  It  is  seen  at  a  glance  that  stations  have  a  natural  tendency  to 
follow,  with  the  population,  the  course  of  the  river  basins. 

4.  It  is  good  policy  to  open  stations  widely  apart  at  first,  and  later 
to  fill  in  the  gaps.  In  this  way  a  large  area  is  rapidly  reached,  while 
more  thorough  work  naturally  follows  at  a  later  stage. 

5.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  larger  rivers  stations  have  to  be 
multiplied.  Rivers  which  form  lines  of  traffic  facihtating  intercourse 
between  distant  points  offer  a  barrier  to  local  traffic  in  transverse 
directions.  To  this  circumstance,  added  to  density  of  population,  is 
due  the  multiplication  of  stations  near  Kieh-yang  city. 

6.  Within  any  part  of  the  coloured  areas  no  one  need  go  farther 
than  six  miles  from  his  home  to  hear  the  Gospel. 


igstonia 
vevised, 
,  D.D. 
Igstonia 


story  of 

LMSLIE, 

)y   Lord 
rtraits. 

S.    M. 

Politics 

'  Work. 

Dns  from 


dents  of 
3y  S.  G. 
id   Illus- 


A.RTHUR 

my  8vo, 


Twenty- 
Mew  and 
Linen. 

)ns.  By 
n,  Large 


Missions, 
vas,  with 


e  Hermit 
ctra,  with 


V.  James 
Lindsay, 
Church  of 


Years  of 
"or  Young 
ated. 


Books  on  Missions 


DAYBREAK  IN  LIVINGSTONIA.  The  Story  of  the  Livingstonia 
Mission,  British  Central  Africa.  By  James  W.  Jack,  M.A.  Revised, 
with  an  Introductory  Chapter,  by  Rev.  Robert  Laws,  M.D.,  D.D. 
Large  Crown  8vo,  Canvas  Binding,  with  Map,  Plan  of  Livingstonia 
Institution,  and  many  other  Illustrations. 

AMONG  THE  WILD  NGONI.  Being  Chapters  from  the  History  of 
the  Livingstonia  Mission  in  British  Central  Africa.  By  W.  A.  Elmslie, 
M.B.,  CM.,  Medical  Missionary.  With  an  Introduction  by  Lord 
OvERTOUN.     Crown  8vo,  Cloth  Extra,  with  Illustrations  and  Portraits. 

ARABIA:     THE    CRADLE    OF    ISLAM.       By  the  Rev.   S.    M. 

ZwEMER,  F.R.G.S.  Studies  in  the  Geography,  People,  and  Politics 
of  the  Peninsula ;  with  an  Account  of  Islam  and  Missionary  Work. 
Demy  8vo,  Canvas  Binding,  with  Maps  and  numerous  Illustrations  from 
Drawings  and  Photographs. 

PERSIAN  LIFE  AND  CUSTOMS.  W^ith  Scenes  and  Incidents  of 
Residence  and  Travel  in  the  Land  of  the  Lion  and  the  Sun.  By  S.  G. 
Wilson,  M.A.  Demy  8vo,  Cloth,  Decorated,  with  Map  and  Illus- 
trations. 

VILLAGE  LIFE  IN  CHINA.  A  Study  in  Sociology.  By  Arthur 
H.  Smith,  D.D.,  Author  of  "Chinese  Characteristics."  Demy  8vo, 
Art  Linen,  with  numerous  Illustrations. 

CHINESE  CHARACTERISTICS.  By  Arthur  H.  Smith,  Twenty- 
seven  Years  a  Missionary  of  the  American  Board  in  China.  New  and 
enlarged  Edition,  with  numerous  Illustrations.     Demy  8vo,  Art  Linen. 

FROM  FAR  FORMOSA  :  The  Island,  its  People  and  Missions.  By 
George  Leslie  Mack  ay,  D.D.  New  and  Cheaper  Edition,  Large 
Crown  8vo,  Art  Canvas  Binding.     With  4  Maps  and  16  Illustrations. 

THE  GIST  OF  JAPAN.  The  Islands;  their  People  and  Missions. 
By  R.  B.  Peery,  A.M.,  Ph.D.  Large  Crown  8vo,  Art  Canvas,  with 
8  Full-page  Illustrations. 

KOREAN    SKETCHES.      A  Missionary's  Observations  in  the  Hermit 

Nation.  By  the  Rev,  James  S.  Gale.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth  Extra,  with 
8  Illustrations. 

FOREIGN  MISSIONS  AFTER  A  CENTURY.  By  Rev.  James 
S.  Dennis,  D.D.  With  Introduction  by  Professor  T.  M.  Lindsay, 
D.D.,  Convener  of  Foreign  Missions  Committee  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland.     Large  Crown  8vo,  Cloth. 

THE  TRANSFORMATION  OF  HAWAII.  How  Fifty  Years  of 
Mission  Work  gave  a  Christian  Nation  to  the  World.  Told  for  Young 
People.     By  Belle  M.  Brain.     Crown  8vo,  Art  Linen,  Illustrated. 


BOOKS   ON    MISSIONS 

{Continued) 

THE  WRONGS  OF  INDIAN  WOMANHOOD.  By  Mrs  Marcus 
B.  Fuller,  Bombay.  With  an  Introduction  by  Ramabai.  Large  Crown 
8vo,  Canvas  Binding,  with  numerous  Illustrations. 

THE  COBRA'S  DEN,  and  other  Stories  of  Missionary  Work  among  the 
Telegus  of  India.  By  Rev.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  Author  of  "In  the 
Tiger  Jungle."     Crown  8vo,  Ornamental  Cloth  Binding,  Fully  Illustrated. 

IN  AFRIC'S  FOREST  AND  JUNGLE.  By  R.  H.  Stone.  Crown 
8vo,  Cloth  Extra,  Illustrated. 

MISSIONS  IN  EDEN.  By  Mrs  Crossby  H.  Wheeler.  Crown  Svo, 
Cloth  Extra,  Illustrated. 

CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS.  A  Socio- 
logical  Study  of  Foreign  Missions.  By  the  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  D.D., 
Author  of  "  Foreign  Missions  after  a  Century."  In  3  volumes,  Royal  Svo, 
Cloth  Extra.  Vol.  I.,  with  upwards  of  100  Full-page  Reproductions  of 
Original  Photographs,  ready.  Vol.  II.,  with  80  Full-page  Reproductions 
of  Original  Photographs,  ready.     Vol.  III.  in  preparation. 

A  LIFE  FOR  AFRICA.  A  Biography  of  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Good,  Ph.D., 
Missionary  in  Equatorial  Central  Africa.  By  Ellen  C.  Parsons,  M.A. 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth  Extra,  with  a  Map  and  Twenty-two  Illustrations. 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  PROGRESS  OF  MAN :  As  Illus- 
trated by  Modern  Missions.  By  W.  Douglas  Mackenzie,  M.A.  Large 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth  Extra. 

A  CYCLE  OF  CATHAY :  Or,  China  South  and  North,  with  Personal 
Reminiscences.  By  the  Rev.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Ex- 
President  Emeritus  of  the  Imperial  Tung-wen  College,  Peking ;  Author 
of  "The  Chinese:  their  Education,  Philosophy  and  Letters,"  &c.  Demy 
Svo,  Art  Canvas,  with  Map  and  numerous  Illustrations. 

CALABAR  AND  ITS  MISSION.  By  the  Rev.  Hugh  Goldie.  New 
Edition,  with  Additional  Chapters  by  the  Rev.  John  Taylor  Dean. 
Large  Crown  Svo,  Cloth  Extra,  with  Map  and  14  new  Illustrations. 

MISSION  PROBLEMS  AND  MISSION  METHODS  IN  SOUTH 
CHINA.  By  J.  Campbell  Gibson,  D.D.,  Swatow.  Extra  Crown  Svo, 
Buckram  Binding,  with  Illustrations. 

MEDICAL  MISSIONS  :  Their  Place  and  Power.  By  the  late  John 
Lowe,  F.R.C.S.E.,  Secretary  of  the  Edinburgh  Medical  Missionary 
Society.  With  Introduction  by  Sir  William  Muir,  K.C.S.I.,  LL.D., 
D.C.L.     Fifth  Edition,  with  Portraits.     Crown  Svo,  Cloth  Extra. 

IN  THE  TIGER  JUNGLE,  and  Other  Stories  of  Missionary  Work 
among  the  Telegus  of  India.  By  the  Rev.  Jacob  Chamberlain,  M.D., 
D.D.  Large  Post  Svo,  Antique  Laid  Paper,  Cloth  Extra.  With  Portrait 
and  7  Illustrations. 

OLIPHANT   ANDERSON   &   FERRIER, 

30  ST  MARY   STREET,   EDINBURGH; 

21   PATERNOSTER  SQUARE,    LONDON,   E.G. 


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